Page 61 - Eclipse - Autumn/Winter 2022

CLASSNOTES

Turning my art hobby into a business

Beth Reilly, BVetMed (2017) and PG Dip in Veterinary Clinical Practice (2019)

enough to have a quiet weekend. My I’ve had the pleasure of working closely
artwork used to sit tucked away in sketch with the Boltons Park Farm sheep
books, but after receiving requests for flock for the past few years and I have
drawings of people’s pets, I decided to snapped plenty of photos of them over
turn my art hobby into something more. this time! This year, I was tasked to paint
the official RVC Christmas card, which
Hopping Duck launched in 2019, initially was certainly daunting, but I was pleased
as commissions, but has branched to have the opportunity to paint one
into selling a range of greetings cards of the shepherdess’s favourite sheep,
and canvas prints. To start with, ‘Mouse’, into the picture.
commissions were only going to friends
and colleagues, but paintings have To anyone with a passion/interest in
now travelled to Ireland, Holland and an area, don’t be put off by being told
Singapore, as well as being entrusted you can’t do something. I was banned
with friends’ wedding table artwork. In by an art teacher at school from using
the past year, cards and canvases have watercolour or painting animals in
fter graduating from the
RVC in 2017, I started my been sold through the RVC’s Christmas GCSE art lessons. I guess, lucky for
first year in practice working pop-up shops and Boltons Park Farm’s me, this meant I did physics A-level
Aat Cambridge as a production Egg Shed, as well as at the farm’s Open instead of art, which led to me pursuing
animal intern. While working there, I was Farm Sunday event. a veterinary career and I then had the
exposed to a variety of farming systems This year also saw a large ‘Beauty the best of both worlds.
and smallholders, and I learnt that the right Longhorn’ canvas print auctioned at
job for me included a mixture of clinical the National Association for Cattle Foot
work, teaching and research. Following Trimmers’ conference, which made over
this, I moved to Dorset for the RVC £300 at the charity auction.
farm internship at Synergy Farm Health, Throughout my five-year career so far,
staying there until the end of 2020, before I’ve been able to tie my love of drawing
venturing onto a new adventure as a in with my veterinary work. Whether that
Teaching Fellow at the RVC.
be painting the cows at both Cambridge
With the exception of the busy spring and the RVC, diagrams for teaching, or
period, on-call weekends were the painting life-size fibre glass sheep models
perfect time for drawing when I was lucky for anatomical teaching references.

To follow Beth’s artwork, visit:
Website: www.hoppingduck.co.uk | Instagram:@Hoppingduckcards | Facebook: @Hoppingduckcards

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