John Trickett

Available for sale from Big Sky Fine Art in the English county of Dorset, this original oil painting is by the coveted dog and wildlife artist John Trickett.<br> The painting is presented and supplied in a sympathetic contemporary frame (which is shown in these photographs).<br> This vintage painting is in very good condition, commensurate with its age. It wants for nothing and is supplied ready to hang and display.<br> The painting is signed lower right.<br> <br> John Trickett is considered to the one of the greatest dog painters of his generation. He has won the Silver Medal in the International Animal Painters competition in France and the Franklin Mint of America has published several of his paintings on limited edition plates. <br> <br> Trickett was born in Sheffield in 1952 and was an only child. He spent most of his childhood in Cleethorpes and attended Winteringham Grammar School. He was interested in art but this was not encouraged, so on leaving school he started to train as an accountant. However, he was also a good footballer and it was this talent that was spotted first. He got a lucky break with Grimsby Town Football Club before being transferred to Torquay United where he was signed as a professional player. Whilst with Torquay he began to paint, inspired by the landscapes and seascapes of the area.<br> <br> Struggling to make a living, he decided to return to his native Humberside and South Yorkshire and to pursue a career as an artist. At first he worked as a fork lift truck driver and painted in his spare time. Although he had no formal artistic training, he was a natural colourist and had a great eye for composition. Once he had a collection of works he started to exhibit, firstly in his local library. This went so well that he then secured the services of an independent art publisher, Sally Mitchell, which began a long and successful collaboration, and his works began to be both circulated and celebrated. <br> <br> His subjects moved away from the early landscapes to animals and in particular, working dogs - pointers, springer spaniels, border collies, retrievers and, best of all, Labradors. The leading countryside pursuits magazine, the Shooting Times, famously declared that Trickett was the “finest Labrador painter in England, if not the world”. In 1996 he was featured in an article on leading dog artists in ‘Gundogs” magazine. <br> <br> Trickett went from strength to strength and professional accolades followed. <br> He has had one- man exhibitions in Nottingham, Norfolk, London and Scotland. His work has also been exhibited in Tokyo, Stockholm, Verona, Dublin and New York. His back catalogue now exceeds three hundred works and many of his works have been published as limited edition prints. His originals have rapidly become collector’s items. <br> <br> In 2008 Trickett published a book about his life and work, entitled “Reflections of the Countryside”.<br> <br> A modest man, today Trickett lives with his partner in Nottinghamshire, surrounded by his children and grandchildren.<br> <br> © Big Sky Fine Art<br> <br> This original oil on board is a superb example of capturing the likeness of an animal, by an absolute master of dog painting. The dog has a thick jet black shiny coat, with wisps of grey on his chest and whiskers. His brown eyes shine bright and his nose is moist. He looks healthy, alert and in his prime. It is an adorable image. The background is rough grassland and undergrowth, and deliberately does not distract from the perfect creature it frames.