Let me introduce myself …. I was born on the 4th September 1942, in a village called Sneyd Green.

My parents moved to Milton, a very pretty village next to Sneyd Green, Stoke on Trent.

I was one of six children: three older brothers, one older sister named Irene and a younger sister Patrica. Family life was wonderful, a special memory being my parents’ gift of a paint box and brushes on my fourth birthday. Being an inquisitive child and always interested in colour, I knew from that day onwards I would paint until I could no longer hold a brush.

School, unlike home, had its difficulties. I was frail, small of stature, with a squint in my right eye and deaf in my right ear, making me a target for bullies. I was also left-handed and recall a teacher tying my left hand behind my back to force me into writing right-handed. I also remember a teacher sending me to the back of the class, accusing me of not paying attention, when it was my impaired hearing that was the problem.  How times have changed - thankfully!

On leaving school in 1958, I joined the renowned Staffordshire Potteries company Spode, working as a porcelain painter. I am very proud to have been born in the Potteries, Stoke-on-Trent, and the heritage it has.

I married at the young age of 19 and have three wonderful children: Lucy, Jeffrey and Keith. Sadly, the marriage did not last and after ten years ended in divorce. With my three children, I moved to Maentwrog in North Wales to be near my parents, they having moved there some time earlier.

It was in North Wales in 1978 that I decided to become a professional artist. Anita, a gallery owner in Criccieth, was willing to exhibit four of my paintings, and by the end of that week, she had sold all four! I went on to become one of her best-selling artists, mainly featuring the beautiful landscapes of North Wales. I was also able to secure exhibition space during the Easter period for over four years in Beddgelert.

After six years of never wanting to marry again, along came my now husband, Philip Hyde, and it was with his invaluable help that I had my first solo exhibition in Porthmadog. I will never forget the anticipation, the worry, and the sheer excitement of so many people viewing and buying my work.

1983 led to a further notable milestone when, after a successful exhibition at The Fine Art Trade Guild’s London Gallery, I was elected a member of that Guild. By then, we were living in Colwyn Bay and had set up an Art Gallery and Picture Framers business. It was there that Steve Morgan, the founder of Redrow, one of the UK’s largest house-building companies, visited and decided to decorate his company’s new houses with my framed Limited Editions. We have been friends ever since.

In 1989, I decided to launch my own publishing company, Ambre Roche Publications, producing limited editions. This led to me distributing to galleries across Great Britain, Europe, South Africa, Australia and Canada. It also led to me exhibiting at the biggest event I had ever participated in - the Birmingham Spring Fair at the National Exhibition Centre. It was amazing; stand after stand of artists and publishers selling to gallery owners from all over the world.

I was painting wildlife subjects at the time, and fortunately, this was very much in vogue. I recall taking my first big order at that event. It was from a gallery owner in the Netherlands who ordered not just one of each edition, but ten! I had entered a whole new world of art!

I was also highly privileged to meet some of the most well-known wildlife artists of that period,  Alan Hunt, John Seerey-Lester. David Shepherd, also famous for his animal conservation work.

 

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In 1989, I had the honour of being presented to Princess Michael of Kent when my work was exhibited at Drapers' Hall in London; in 1993, I was an Artist of the Year finalist in the Fine Art Trade Guild Business Awards Scheme, and in 1998, I was nominated and listed for inclusion in the Who’s Who of Professionals. Proud achievements all!

I am also very proud of my association with Bill Jordan's ‘Care for the Wild International’, a UK-based animal charity established in 1984. This organisation sent me to Kenya to paint pictures of orphaned elephants, and half the resulting editions were then donated to that charity.

At the closer-to-home end of the animal conservation scale, I have been very pleased to support actress Daphne Neville in her work of caring for otters. This came about when British biographer and naturalist Duff Hart-Davis commissioned me to paint a picture of otters. He introduced me to Daphne, and I illustrated the first edition of her book Bee, a Particular Otter, as well as donating limited editions towards her work for these river animals, at that time on the brink of extinction. I also illustrated Nick Balmforth’s book Old Snufflegrunt’s Prickly Night Out, written to raise awareness of the plight of hedgehogs, another endangered species.

With the help of my sister, I held an exhibition in a Plymouth shopping centre, and it was here that I was approached by the Centre Manager, who said he was moving to Bristol to manage the Galleries Shopping Centre, and he invited me to exhibit there. By that time, I had widened the scope of my work to include figure work and floral subjects in my portfolio. With a friend, Philip built an amazing stand, and we rented space from November to the end of December, not just for one but for four years.

So far, everything on my artistic journey has been positive. The first major setback came when we moved to Christchurch, Bournemouth and opened a gallery there. Television personality Johnny Morris, famous for his BBC’s Animal Magic series, did the honours with the opening, but only months into the venture, we suffered a major robbery when all of my original works were stolen. The police thought much of my work ended up on the continent. I was heartbroken, my painting career was put on hold for three years, and the sense of hurt and loss still haunts me today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second major setback came in 2008 when I was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumour, and I feared I would never paint again. Doctors gave me just eight weeks to live, but thanks to successful surgery and the wonderful care of the NHS, I defied the odds. The treatment, however, was gruelling, and it has taken time to build up my strength and to continue with the love of my life – painting!

But now I am back, perhaps stronger from what I have gone through, and although now in my eighties, I am still painting and, with the help of Philip, planning to hold an exhibition soon, when some new work will be shown.

I paint many subjects: wildlife, flora, landscapes, seascapes, figures, abstracts, in fact anything that catches my eye, always taking inspiration from life and my surroundings. That’s the joy that comes from being a freelance professional artist. I paint in oil, watercolour, acrylic and pastels and even in liquid gold and silver.

It has been said that I have a natural talent. True, I have never had formal training, but what I do know is that the brush I am holding in my left hand is the right brush, the colour I have mixed is the right colour, the canvas is the best quality, and every painting is a challenge. And above all, that overwhelming sense of excitement when I pick up a paintbrush remains with me to this day.

I have exhibited my work in many parts of England and abroad Switzerland, America, France and Spain. Spain was exiting, it was the World Cup and Spain beat England, they decided to show the World Cup in the town hall, where I was exhibiting, how about this!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                          Thank you for visiting my website; I do hope you enjoy my work.

                                                                               Dorothea Buxton-Hyde