JENNY LUPTON PICTURES 

In March of this year, I’d been teaching an art class in Chambers St Museum, studying the section on the witch trials during James I and VI’s reign. Later in the day, I went down to an exhibition of women in art and film in the City Arts Centre. One of the photographers was Margaret Fay Shaw, an American musician who had travelled to the Hebrides in 1929 to listen to, and document, the songs and lore of the Islands. She bided with Mairi (1883 – 1972) and Peigi Macrae (1874 – 1969) in their wee croft at North Glendale, South Uist for six years. I was mesmerised by her photos of the Island women and the harsh simplicity of their lives, pretty much unchanged for centuries. A big part of their lives was spinning, dying and weaving wool. Brooms, cats, cauldrons, singing (chanting), herbs to heal (potions) and gossiping were part of their fabric of life. The parallels with how witches were depicted were chilling and resonated with me. There’s a part of me that woke up that day, firing this new direction of painting. I based the initial pieces on different photos, in one Mairi holds up a lobster, and the other a salted cod. Feasts. The photos were black and white and stark. I wanted to tell a story with them, to flesh them with colour, to give them a presence and power that steps across generations. For so long, women were portrayed as objects or possessions of men, yet these women ran their own lives, and I wanted a snapshot of their lives to be seen the way male figures have been portrayed against landscape for centuries. When I began the first painting, The Fish, I set myself the task of only using materials I had to hand, as an artist in that era would also have done. I used an old frame (63 x 89 cm) from a skip, some linen I had folded away, and sized the fabric with rabbit glue granules from forty years ago at Art College, and it’s stood the test of time and still works! I work with acrylics on paper palettes, that I originally just threw away when covered with paint. Working on such a big scale, I was using a lot of palettes, and I really liked the effect the dried paint made on them, so I started to keep them. A flash of inspiration had me use them, torn up and stuck down with rabbit glue, for her clothes. I love the lack of control but the gorgeous effect collage gives. Because I was pretty much feeling my way with the piece, I kept changing the background until it felt right. I initially had her against the house with the cod, but it felt wrong, so she has a backdrop of hills and water. On the cod I used heavy acrylic gel, with onion netting brushed across it then lifted off to create the scale effect, then indulged my love of pearlescent gold paint and made the fish sparkle! The water has silvery pearlescent paint, which glows in a low light, as do her buttons and the cats’ eyes with a pale gold. I’ve taken proverbs from the book by Margaret Faye Shaw, ‘Folksongs and Folklore of the Outer Hebrides’, that I think fit each painting, and written them in Gaelic along the water. “Tha miann a’ chait ’san tràch, ‘s cha doire e fhéin as e. “What the cat wants is on the shore, but he won’t take it out himself” I started The Lobster before I’d finished The Fish, as I needed to go back fresh to finish her, it’s easy to get too close to a piece. I took the texture idea further, and used sand from the beach, that I washed clean and mixed with heavy gel to create the wall of the house. I had a really bright palette dried and shouting to be used, so her frock is again collage. For each piece I do, I want the colours to be totally different, so in this I indulged my passion for Payne’s Gray. The cats were painted over several times, I couldn’t get the feel right to begin with. The cat on the bottom left was ginger, but she didn’t fit, so I washed some grey stripes over her, and I like the accidental effect that created. The cat on the right went from grey, to ginger then back to grey again. The lobster is raised with modelling gel, and also coloured with palette and rabbit glue, with paint on top. “Cha n-fhan muir ri uallach, ‘s cha dean bean luath maorach” “The sea does not wait for a burden, and a hasty woman will not get shellfish” Both these are now finished, and I’m working on a bigger one, with a farmer’s wife leading a horse carrying seaweed up from the beach. All these will be available as prints and cards shortly!

I did this piece back in 2021, and as it was a really emotional piece to do, I haven’t shared it until now. Cameron and Mary’s son George tragically died in a road accident in his first fortnight at University back in 2018. Two years on, Cameron commissioned me to do a portrait of George on the horse he shared with Mary, as a surprise for her. We were all systems go when Cameron realised the pic I thought would be best to work from wasn’t the right horse! I went down to photograph him late in 2020 just as his coat was turning, and it was a bit of high speed effort to grab enough photos without being spotted by Mary, who was out riding. He was also muddy, and wondering what this mad human jumping around his field was doing! But he was a star, put his ears forward and gave me the biggest smile! Then I had to hide in the car when she came back as I was parked by the stables! Next I had to find a jumping photo, and thanks to social media and a lot of helpful eventing people, I eventually tracked down a good jumping photo to work from, taken by the wonderfully talented Dave Cameron. The photo is of George competing in the U18 Scottish Team at Frickley Park in 2016, and I’m so thankful to Dave for allowing me to work from it. I’ve done plenty of portraits when I’m trying to get the right look, the feel, for animals that have already passed. Never before for a human, someone I had known a little. Hence I put myself under immense pressure to really capture George, because it was so important to me to do this right, for the Crawfords. It’s always difficult working from photos of people. Human expressions are more mobile, varied, and often an instant in time that isn’t the feel you want. I had to make the image larger than I normally would, to make sure I got enough space to get the detail right. In the photo, George’s face had such focus and determination, so I tried to make that concentration his expression. I had to keep walking away from it, as it was pretty encompassing and overwhelming at times. Then it suddenly just came right, and I felt him look at me, in itself hugely moving and flooring simultaneously. I’m even feeling it all again as I write this. For Cairnside Ambition, I wanted to capture his generosity of spirit, his joy at his life. Doesn’t he have the smiliest expression? Thank you so much to Cameron for trusting me with such a very special commission. Pastel on Canson Paper Framed size 35 inches x 30 inches

The fabulous Flash, owned by Cameron and Mary Crawford, ridden by the brilliant event rider Caroline Powell. I fist saw Flash in 2010 when I went up to Le Lion D'Angers young event horse world championships to catch up with Caroline. He was 12th in his class, he had the most incredible jump, and I'm pretty sure he could been a world class show jumper too. He blew me away. I have some phenomenal photos of him jumping. I followed him throughout his career, he's one of my most favourite horses that wasn't mine, ever. His results speak for themselves, his talent was immense, his only limitation was his fragility, and that was brilliantly managed by Caroline and her team. I have so many good memories of him. This portrait has been four years in the making. Cameron Crawford first approached me at Blair in 2018, and through assorted difficulties it has taken until now to be completed. The head shot was from ace photographer Nico Morgan, from a trot up at Burghley. The jumping photo I used was from another ace photographer, Libby Law, taken at the corner at Blenheim. To me it totally sums up his joy and exuberance over a fence. I had to wait until she was back in NZ to dig the high resolution copy out, and that happened earlier this year, so finally it was all systems go! I can't thank Nico and Libby enough for allowing me to use their photographs, and it meant I could do this piece exactly the way I wanted to. I would be lying if I didn't say I had a sinking moment when I realised it was a sparkly browband, and the ear covers were a little challenging too! I'm also not very good at making Caroline look like Caroline, as a previous portrait I did of her bears testament! I think this one's a bit more like her, especially as I had to alter the expression somewhat! However, I was more than delighted that my other creation, the fern bumplate , was nice and clear, so HAD to go in! I feel hugely privileged to have been commissioned to do Flash, so many thanks to Cameron for the commission. Pastel on Mi teinte touch paper. 20 x 23 inches.

These three gorgeous horses are living their best life with the Crawfords in Melrose. The portrait was a surprise for Lucinda, although she had to be in on the act to help me get decent photographs of them. I t was commissioned at the start of the year, so the horses all had their winter woollies on. It's always tricky working with a winter coat, but usually I make it work, just sometimes the colour differs from a summer coat. I was sent loads of photos, but none were good enough to work with, so I organised a swift visit down to the borders to photograph before Harry was clipped, as it's more than a little tricky putting a summer coat on a clipped horse. However, the clippers beat me to it, and Harry was clipped when I got there! It's also tricky arranging horses together when the photos are very different, and also when the angles taken don't quite echo the others. I do loads of photoshopping them together to see which works best, then the final decision rests with the client! I was worried about the balance using the clipped photo, because it looks different with colour, but I am happy that I made all the head positions work together! I managed to use some summer photos to get Harry's colour right, and I'm pretty chuffed that I successfully invented a summer coat. This is not something I particularly want to repeat, however! I just love how they are all such happy smiley people! No photo of it framed up, because i didn't have time! Photos I worked from below. As ever, I'm very flattered to have been entrusted with such a special commission.

Here's the splendid Hector, glorious Archie's nemesis. Hector is a busy chap, he's got enough energy to orbit earth, and still have some left over. He's basically a bit of a lad. Possibly my Doberman Zeb in Spaniel clothing! 🤣 Hector is absolutely gorgeous, with a nanosecond attention span, so there was a lot of following him about the place and trying to get him still enough to grab some shots to work from! I did end up with a few I could work from, but this one was the best choice. He also has amazing eyes, and there's a tiny bit of a side eye at me going on in this! 🤣 The vignette of the pair is the other way round on the mount. The two boys are hung side by side, and I love how well they work together! Pastel on Mi Teintes Touch

How striking is Archie horse? 😍 In a past life he was Lord George, the racehorse, and won nearly £100K. Clever boy! 🥰 When I photographed him, it was incredibly sunny, and often bright light totally bleaches all the markings on greys, so we tried to photograph him in an open barn. He was a bit, erm, busy(!🤣) so I suggested putting him back in his stable as the light was just about good enough there. He offered me every expression under the sun, most of which were totally useless for a portrait, but I got one I loved, so we went with that. I've included a photo that made me roar with laughter when I saw it. I've never seen a horse do coy quite like it! So it's been added too, as it might make you smile, on this saddest of days. I didn't get a decent photo of him framed up, as I was time short on the run up to Land Rover Blair Castle International Horse Trials, so I've attached a close up of the frame from the Blair video, and one of him in situ at home. I've been using this frame a lot recently, as supply issues mean they keep discontinuing a lot of my 'go to' frames, and this works with a lot of colours of horses. It also works in both traditional and modern settings. Pastel on Mi Teintes Touch paper.

Last of the borrowed Blair babes! This gorgeous pair are Louis and Elsa. 😍 Safe to say this wasn't one of the smoothest shoots. 🤣 It was a hot day, they were panting, and totally uninterested in being supermodels. Funniest part of it was a short convo between Rachel and Martin. R: "Make your dog pose properly" M (with pointedly raised eyebrows at R): "Elsa, pose properly" 🤣🤣🤣 I managed to get one shot that would work from each of them, then did a bit of skulduggery with the photos to get them both facing the same direction. Louis (black boy) got his special collar put on, so I had to get that bit right too! It's ages since I've done labradors, even longer a chocolate one. So any colours in a chocolate coat! I framed them in my favourite wood veneer, and used a bronze slip to try and balance both black and chocolate colours. Aren't they both lovely? I just adore their soulful eyes! 😍 Pastel on Mi Teintes Touch

This is the stunning Frank! I can't tell you what a joy he was to photograph, he just posed liked a supermodel, and despite being at the back of the tradestand shedding at Blair, he was so unfazed. He's a gold dust horse, a unicorn, and his gorgeous soul just shines out of his eyes. I finished the portrait, and Kara asked if it would be possible to drop it to her at a competition local to me in a couple of days. I said no, then thought it might be lovely to surprise her, so I phoned the wholesaler first thing and got the order put onto same day, for next day. He took down my address twice, had to wait on the chop guy coming in to confirm it would go, then sent me the invoice, so I assumed all was good. They usually get to me before 11, so I phoned to see what was happening, and he'd just put it through the system and sent it to my old Edinburgh address. Frantically, I tried to get someone there to accept it, but it was all a bit not happening, so I ended up having the drive to Livingston to pick it up from the Depot after the driver clocked off. This of course was the day they were sorting the Queen's route to Edinburgh, so the traffic was heinous. After a four hour round trip, I got home, framed it up, and messaged Kara to let her know I'd have it for the Saturday for her. She'd only injured herself and wasn't coming after all! All good, however, a fellow competitor let me drop it to her, and Kara drove over to pick it up as soon as they got home! She's left me a lovely recommendation. "Honoured that Jenny agreed to paint Frank for me. She has him down to a T. If you're thinking of having your animal portrait done then don’t go anywhere else. An Absolutely wonderfully talented lady! Thanks again Jenny xxx" Me, I feel honoured that people trust me to do their special people.

Another of the Blair exhibits, the glorious Archie. He was so chilled when I was photographing him, I could have worked from any of the photos. I love his colouring, and his light eyes, much paler than any spaniel I've previously done. He's a total dude. Archie lives with Hector (who I'll show next, as they are so different they need their own posts 😅) Their owners have this cracking photo of them both from behind, sitting looking intently through a gate. We decided it would look perfect as a vignette on the mount, and I reversed the photo for each dog, to make it individual and specific to each one. Again, the colour isn't read properly, the background isn't quite as yellow as the photograph, not as brown as the screenshot of the frame! I didn't actually get around to photographing it properly framed up, so a screenshot from the video at Blair will have to suffice.