Crufts: Man’s best friend in art

Crufts was held at the NEC, Birmingham, last week. We all watched,with bated breath, the dogs parading around the ring and running around the agility courses. We fell in love with all the different breeds and we wanted, for ourselves, one as perfectly groomed and well behaved as the one sitting on Clare Balding’s settee. Most of all we loved the rescue dogs who had found loving owners and the dogs who had been pivotal in helping people to turn their lives around.

Once at Crufts, dogs compete against others of the same breed and then the seven group winners compete for Best in Show. In the Gundog section this year, the Best of Breed was Labrador Retriever Rocheby Sensational. The Labrador is one of the most popular breeds in the UK. Besides being wonderful family pets, they are brilliant as assistance and sniffer dogs and are also used for retrieving game.

• John Trickett b 1952
• Study of a black Labrador
• Oil on board. Signed
• 12″ x 10″
• SOLD

John Trickett was described by the Shooting Times as the finest painter of black Labradors in England if not the World. Fulsome praise indeed. He also won a Silver medal in the International Animal Painters Competition in France,with a Labrador painting.

But not all dog owners want to see their breed included at Crufts.It was reported at the end of last year that some owners are fighting to keep their Jack Russells out of Crufts. 

 

• M Jackson
• Study of a Jack Russell
• Victorian oil on canvas
• Signed
• 39cm x 39 cm
• SOLD