Animal Portraitist Alison Friend
Nostalgic and wry, Friend’s limited-edition animal portraits sell out super fast; the comments on her Instagram feed – where she’s built a loyal following – are a reliable mix of print requests and declarations of love for the painting’s subject. We caught up with Alison at her home in the Lake District in northwest England shortly before her debut solo show in Los Angeles, where she donated an original painting, “Pizza Lover,” which sold for $12,000, benefiting Paws For Life K9 Rescue.
You’ve shared that you pored over encyclopedias as a child to learn more about animals – and then draw them. Why do you think you were drawn to animals in particular? What was your personal relationship with animals like growing up?
I have always loved animals. My dad was a big animal lover, and he used to paint birds and horses. I used to sit and watch him paint when I was tiny. I wanted to be him, really, so I'd copy animals out of these amazing books.
Growing up we always had pets. We always had a dog, and as an only child, that dog was like my best friend – my kind of furry sibling. I’d tell him all sorts of stuff. He was my go-to companion. That's where it all began. I've just always loved animals and always drawn them.
Is there one dog from your youth that stands out?
We had a West Highland White Terrier, a Westie, and she was called Cindy. We probably had her from when I was about seven, and she saw me through my teens. She was like my therapist – my best friend. I cried on her. Cindy put up with a lot!
Do you have any pets in your life now?
I take care of my ex’s dog occasionally. I lost him in the separation, but my ex and I get along really well so I get to look after Blue quite a lot. He gets away with murder when he’s at my house. He has quite a strict regime at my ex’s.
What kind of dog is Blue?
He’s a Border Collie. He’s super intense. He has really pale blue almost white eyes, like a Husky. When I'm painting I’ll catch him just sitting there staring at me – I can feel his eyes burning into me. He finds it very hard to relax. He’s a very clever dog.
Have you painted him a lot? Captured those striking eyes?
Yes, several times. Never as a character – it’s always been a more serious painting. But he's quite characterful to look at anyway. And his eyes do kind of look like those googly eyes you can buy from a craft store.
We’re really interested in the trajectory of your career. You graduated with a degree in Fine Art and Printmaking and then worked as a stonemason for the City of Nottingham for a few years. How did you get that job? And is there any overlap in working with stone and the painting and illustrating you do now?
Unless you teach or become a full time artist, the job opportunities after doing a fine art degree are kind of few and far between. But I saw this ad in a local newspaper for a job for an apprentice stonemason. It sounded amazing, so I went for it and I got it. I was completely amazed and so was everyone around me. I was the first woman who was employed in this role. It was great, but the guys I worked alongside were not happy it was a woman in the job. It was quite hard sometimes. I got a lot of stick. Maybe it wouldn't be the same these days, but back in the early ‘90s they got away with all sorts.
A really big part of the job was that they sent me to college to learn stone carving. I actually was awarded stonemason of the year at college, which I was able to go back to the boys at work and say, “Look at this, guys. I’m not that bad after all.”
Why did you make the jump to illustrating?
My then-partner got a job in the U.S. and I thought, “You know what, I'm going to pick up my paint brushes again and leave this job.” There were too many things I didn't like about it. Being a stonemason was so physical; there definitely isn’t a skills overlap, but in some of the picture books I illustrated, I did paint quite a bit of architecture and buildings, which I suppose I had a flair for after doing that job.
That's when my illustration career began. We moved to Seattle, and that's when I started painting and drawing again.
When you first moved to the States you worked as a greetings card illustrator. What are some memorable cards or subjects from that time?
They were based around funny titles, and there was always a joke in them. The title always came first, and that's kind of what happens in my paintings now – I start with a title.
So I’d think of a title – because I like to think I'm quite funny – and I’d pitch it and the image to the owners. The two people who owned the greeting card company were sort of landed gentry – they were like a lord and lady who lived in this big house in Pembrokeshire, Wales. And they didn't really have a grasp on popular culture – or the real world, really – so they never got my jokes. I used to have to persuade them like, “This is really funny, Julian! It's gonna be a good seller.” The hardest sell was a peacock with his tail in full display, and there was a row of bunnies in front of the peacock. The title was, “Does my bum look big in this?” It ended up being their best selling card for a while.
Your greetings card work gained the attention of a children's book publisher, and you went on to illustrate over 20 children's books, many with animal characters. What was one of the firsts?
Alongside illustrating greeting cards I was building a children's book illustration portfolio. I pounded the pavement in New York, dropping the portfolio off with publishers. I think we were about three weeks away from leaving the U.S. when I got a book job with Candlewick Press. It was a reprint of an old book called, “What Color is Caesar?” about a Dalmatian with an identity crisis – he didn’t know what color he was. And that started a relationship with Candlewick Press, and then shortly afterwards I got an agent.
Are you still illustrating children’s books? And now that you’re so well known as an illustrator to an adult audience, can we expect a book of your own?
I did what I’m going to call my final book because I think I'm done with kids’ books for now. I finished it last year. It was called “Sharing for Sheep,” and it was about sheep that were in a knitting competition. I couldn't look at another sheep again for a while. Hundreds of sheep.
There may be some books [of my own] in the pipeline, but I think they'll be more art books and portraits.
The animals in your portraits are bursting with personality. Do you create backstories for them? Walk us through your creative process.
In the beginning I always make written notes, and they're quite detailed. I have notes on my phone, I have a book by my bedside….and I will literally transcribe a painting word for word so I don't forget anything, rather than actually sketch it.
I’ll describe the room and the scene like, “There's a painting to the left; the chair is kind of angled to the right; there’s light coming in the window; there’s a ruff on the dog, he’s giving you a side glance.” So they’re quite detailed. It's not just: “Dog eating lollipops.”
And I need to get it out there – the vision in my head. Sometimes, like I said, a title will come first. The titles are super, super important. And the humor is super important. So if that comes first, then I'll make written notes based on an image in my head from that title.
And then I will sketch an idea out to make the composition clearer. Then I put a ground [a priming layer of paint] on a canvas, and I just start to paint.
Where do your ideas come from?
I do a lot of driving, and I think my best ideas come while driving. I don't know why I hate to say it, but I get a lot of ideas from social media and news stories.
Tell us about the medium you work in. What do you like about it?
I use oil paints these days. I started painting with those during lockdown, and there's no going back. I love them so much. It's such a rich paint to use and you can do so much with it. I love it. With oil paints I can try and create a modern day old masters feel to the paintings.
You’re using this very rich and storied medium to paint cheeky little animals.
Definitely. I have a folder of reference photographs of a lot of old master paintings that I'll borrow compositions from. And if anyone's familiar with old masters, you’ll see similar elements and recognizable poses and skies [in my work]. I have a painting of a cat on a swing, and the background for that was inspired by a [Thomas] Gainsborough painting.
The animals’ accessories – from ice cream cones and rubber duckies to cigarettes and knitted vests – take your work into the realm of fantasy and fairytale. What interests you about anthropomorphism?
Anthropomorphism is really such a useful tool in picture books with animal characters. I think it definitely helps kids connect with a character. And we love to put human emotions on our pets, don’t we? We dress them up. We don't make them smoke – there's a lot you can do in paintings that I would never do to an animal! – but it’s funny, our impulse. I do love the darker paintings, as well. I definitely have quite a dark sense of humor. There's mixed feelings towards my [portraits of] smoking animals, but I have to remind people it's a painting and no animals were harmed in the process.
Because you started as a children's book illustrator do you ever feel like you have to upset people's ideas about your work being innocent – or appropriate for a younger audience?
Well, that's what's nice about doing what I do now. Being a kids’ book illustrator, even in the time I was doing it, it became so over-sanitized. In one book I did there was this beaver character who was a carpenter, so he had a set of tools. And I had to blunt the teeth on his saw. And I just didn't understand this – nobody's going to get harmed by this drawing of a saw! I had to do a lot of changes in books like that so no one got offended. And I would hate to seriously offend anyone, but it's just gentle humor really. It's great to not have to answer to anyone. I can put my real sense of humor into my paintings and a lot of people seem to like it.
Your work has definitely struck a chord with people. Your prints and paintings sell out incredibly quickly, and you have a really dedicated fan base.
Some of the messages I get from people are just unbelievable. It's so heartwarming to think my paintings have such an effect on people. I think that's the nicest thing about it.
What sorts of messages do people send?
Well, broadly, people just really look forward to my posts every day – “it’s a light in a dark world!” One person said it really helps their anxiety when they look at my feed. It's a really broad range of people that write to me, and it's always lovely. I never even anticipated that it would have this effect on people, but I think we've touched on something. I've made some really nice connections with people.
What do you attribute your success to?
I would say it's probably the warmth and the humor and the nostalgia in the paintings. I paint interiors and treats and snacks I remember from childhood. They probably evoke a sense of comfort for other people, and that belonging we had as children – that family feeling, certainly for me anyway! I've received messages from people who find my paintings comforting and nostalgic.
Where do you work from? Describe your studio space for us.
I live in an apartment in a small town-slash-village in the Lake District, and I work from my kitchen. It’s a long kitchen, and my painting table is at the end. It's quite small – probably not what people imagine me working in. I wish I had more room, for sure – and I'm starting to paint bigger, as well. But I do like being able to paint whenever I want. And I do most of my painting at night, so it's quite handy. And I can literally stir my soup from where I work.
Do you listen to music while you’re working? What’s the vibe?
Usually I listen to audiobooks or podcasts. I do find myself drifting when I get really into the zone. A few hours will have gone by and I've missed loads of the audiobook and I have to rewind. But then sometimes I can sit down and paint and realize I've been doing it in silence for, like, three hours. I love listening to “This American Life.” It's so varied and I love the stories.
How do you spend your time when you’re not in the studio?
I spend quite a bit of time in Manchester, and we [my partner and I] go to a lot of art galleries in Manchester. Up here [in the Lake District] I walk a lot. I used to swim in the lake quite a bit, but I've not had time. Cold water swimming is big here. A lot of women gather by the lake side and just go for a dip every morning. I used to do that a couple years ago, but since things have taken off I spend most of my time painting.
My partner is an artist, so, really, we just love to paint. We just sit and paint together for hours. It's great – being with someone who completely understands your work and your commitment to it. It's not like a nine to five job. We can be in the studio until late at night and just have the music on. It’s great.
Artwork by Alison Friend
Where my dogs at?
