Welcome to the gallery…

Here is the main drawing which both Simon and I worked on together (and we’re still good friends!) after brainstorming with participating members of the community. We did about 30 drawings before we came up with the design. We are not too far from completing the making of the tiles, then they’ve got to thoroughly dry out before they are fired. They are taking up a lot of studio space. It has been difficult for me to organise the viewing and doing of my own commissioned work as well as organise the mural.(I now have a tight deadline on a horse portrait so I’m working at home for the day where it’s warm and no interruptions) We have the tiles lying on the floor. The mural will measure approx 7ft x5ft and is made up of over 300 hand built ceramic tiles modelled in relief. I initiated the idea which has been very organic to say the least. I had no idea that it would be so big or that it was destined for the outside of the newly refurbished village hall. I brought on a good friend with ceramic expertise to work with me (Simon Wyard).

About 25 members of the community have been involved physically so far. The mural has created a lot of interest from tourists and locals alike. Here is the stag roaring which features in the mural. I love the deer on Exmoor and have done a number of drawings of them.

I’ve never been before. A friend from Orkney e mailed me a newspaper article about it. I’ve just sculpted the stag roaring on our community mural(See previous post) Bolving is imitatating the sound of the rutting stags for fun. I hadn’t planned to take part. It was great therapy Johnny Kingdom joked with me about how I had to be warey if I was in season because the stag might actually come bounding up from the valley to greet me. I was the only woman last night out of about nine contestants. I will practice for next year. It was a great evening ending in the judging and celebrations in the Rock Inn in Dulverton.

The antlers on the village post office are from a casualty of the rutting season which I discovered while riding.

This opening page is my blog. It’s all relevant , there are some of my recent commissions down below the photos of my horse. All images are the property of Anna Fraser(c)

The background of my site is my horse’s coat he is a bit of a muse to me; He also amuses me too. Here he is. He is called Jiminy Kickums (c)(the first) and I bred him myself. I had his mother for 26 years. He is 17 yrs old now.There is a story around his name. He is a huge character, I have sold quite a few pictures of him I still have hopes of selling some by him too! He supplies manure to one or two gardens in Winsford, one in Minehead and one in Dulverton. He loves his farrier who has shod him since he was born. This photo was taken Within the last couple of months. He still has some of his winter coat.

This photo was taken on 13th May in a fabulous bluebell wood near me. There’s quite an art in taking a photo off the back of a horse especially Kickums because he gets very impatient. He’s got his full summer coat now. He’s bright light bay in Summer and dark bay in Winter. It is truely marvellous riding around Exmoor on Kickums because the wildlife doesn’t run off so much because it’s animal to animal. I always think of pictures when I’m riding him and when he is not being difficult, and take lots of photos and sometimes I sketch off his back. Sometimes now I can just leave him grazing and he’ll stay around not tied up and doesn’t like to let me out of his sight. It’s amazing how you can build meaningfull relationships with animals, we’ve been through so much together.
Up ’til now my time and energies have been taken up mostly doing commissioned portraits of dogs and horses, that’s my bread and butter, I hope from now on I’ll start reflecting my life in a more imaginative way.

In Winsford on Exmoor we are doing an exciting project. A group of people from the community are hand making ceramic tiles for a ceramic mural to be placed on the outside of the newly refurbished village hall. They are being guided by myself and Simon Wyard who is a ceramics specialist. The main design is still in the process of being drawn up. The border tiles are being made now. It is going to be in relief and built up. We have also decided on using a limited palette of colours. The mural will measure approximately 7ft 6″ x 5ft

These are recent pastels large

This is Stanley Parrot from Tropiquaria (A local zoo) It is painted in acrylic and measures 14″x 18″ This was given as a leaving present to one of the keepers last year. Then I had to do another picture of him for the owners for Christmas which you can see at the bottom of this page. It is the same size but painted in oil and featuringa different pose

This is a charcoal study slightly larger than A4 which was drawn from a customer’s photo (I simplified it down) It is in China now.