Jackie Spurrier

My official art education was at City of Bath College in 2000, when I studied for a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design. I fell in love with drawing and painting on a large scale and have been lucky enough to be able to follow my heart and make a career from it.

I started painting cows in 2002 after a meaningful chat with a Hereford in a field in Norfolk. We (me and the cow, Spike) bonded over a barbed wire fence. She snorted sweet breaths at me through her velvety nostrils as a globule of spittle dangled from her whiskery chin. I determined then that I would paint her and one cow painting led to another ...

I paint in my studio in Sherborne, Dorset having gone out into the fields in search of the perfect cow. Often I am given tip-offs by friends and customers who have spotted some good ones. My cow painting output is somewhat tempered by looking after my two gorgeous children, but I grab every opportunity I can to get into the studio and enjoy the colours and textures I can create whilst developing the personality of the cow.

Taunton School '89

Brasenose College, Oxford '92