Angela Gaughan is an award-winning artist and has demonstrated for several brands and publications such as Daler-Rowney, Derwent Pencils, The Artist and Leisure Painter magazines. However, she is most renowned for her stunning commissioned portraits and wildlife studies. We caught up with Angela to find out about her new book and her plans for this year!
How are you Angela? For those that don’t know you tell us a bit about yourself.
I have been painting for most of my life, at the age of 10 I had tuberculosis and in those days the treatment was bed rest – I was in bed for four years. So I did a lot of reading and drawing, anything I could see from my bedroom window – still life from around the room or copying pictures from magazines etc. I think this was the beginning of my interest in art.
At the age of 16 I modelled for artist Andrew Vicari and he saw some of my drawings and thought they were good, so he encouraged me to start painting in oils. I suppose that’s where my journey into art really started. In years to come I started painting commissioned portraits and pet portraits. I then became a demonstrator for Derwent Pencils, working all the major art shows, Art In Action, Oxford, Arts Alive, NEC Birmingham and Patchings festival of Arts, Nottingham.
As a freelance artist I have demonstrated for Daler Rowney, Chromacolour and Windsor & Newton on P&O cruise ships.
How did your new book The Art of Angela Gaughan come about? How did Search Press discover you?
The Art of Angela Gaughan is my second book with Search Press, my first book being Wild Animals in Acrylics in the Ready to Paint series in 2013.
I was demonstrating at Patchings Festival of Art in Nottingham and was asked if I would be interested in producing a book for beginners in acrylics. Edd Ralph was my editor then and I really enjoyed working with him.
When it came to The Art of Angela Gaughan it was something I wanted to do, as over the years I have developed my indirect method of working in acrylics and wanted to pass it on.
I was absolutely thrilled after talking to Edd Ralph and he said he would like to do another book with me.
Can you tell us a little about the book?
I wanted the book to explain how I work. At the shows I get asked so many times how do you do that, so my idea was to produce a book detailing all my techniques and experience to help all artists to progress in their artwork.
What are your favourite sections from the book?
It is very hard to say which is my favourite section of the book, but I particularly like sections on Masterwork Techniques, Composing Paintings, Creating your own paintings and Emotion Mood & Atmosphere.
What is it about painting the wildlife that you like the most?
I love animals and through my work I hope to raise the consciousness of the viewer to respect these creatures as they are our animal neighbours and individuals in their own right.
Their struggle to survive, protect their homes and care for their young is a journey shared by us all.
What are your working on at the moment?
At the moment I am working on a commissioned painting of a stag, but I work on many paintings at any given time – I have five at the moment all at different stages!
Do you have any upcoming plans for the rest of this year?
The Wildlife Art Society International exhibition at Nature In Art, Gloucester, from Saturday 29th May until Sunday 6th June. Hopefully more shows, demonstrations and exhibitions later in the year as and when COVID restrictions are lifted.
The Art of Angela Gaughan is available from Search Press, RRP £19.99.
