The Inspiration Behind “Berkshire Pig with Chickens”

People often ask me where I get my ideas from, so this short video shares the inspiration behind “Berkshire Pig with Chickens”, an acrylic painting on canvas.

This painting is currently available to purchase, for more details click here.

There is a transcription below the video should you prefer to read about it.

I found this black pig and I thought what a fantastic black pig it was but then I thought how am I going to actually bring it to life and make it as spectacular as I think it is.

And then I thought I know exactly what I’ll do, I’ll paint it in the snow so that you have that dramatic contrast between the black and the white. And then I wanted to bring in other animals because I’ve always liked to paint combinations of animals and I thought I’ve got to have a hen sitting on the back of the black pig and then where am I going to get my colour?

So I thought I would paint the patchwork and the patchwork reminds me of farmhouses. It reminds me of early American wonderful designs. I just love patchwork and it was a wonderful way of introducing colour in a small scale.

Then I thought the background I want to play into the foreground, so the background is not complicated, it’s quite simple. The black and white hens definitely stand out but only in a way as a tribute to the wonderful brown hen sitting on the back of the pig.

I absolutely loved doing the painting because I loved both the black pig and the brown hen and the patchwork I think because I spend so much time with the painting and looking at what I’m painting and probably breathing life into the animal, I think I do feel close to the animals, the expression they have and would spend hours trying to achieve what I finally end up saying is a finished painting.