An artist from Murieston has donated £2500 to Dogs Trust in West Calder following an increase in business throughout lockdown.
Fiona Finlayson works full-time at Natwest as a manager in trustee and depositary services but for the last four years she has also become an animal portrait artist.
That being said, Fiona isn’t your traditional portrait artist painting on canvas - she works with wool on a 3D plane.
The artist, originally from Edinburgh, has lived in Livingston for 10 years, and has created three dimensional models of animals for her pet-loving patrons over the last four years.
Fiona has worked for NatWest full-time over the last 20 years, but an increasing amount of her free-time is taken up by her artistic endeavours.
She graduated from the Edinburgh College of Art in 1992, and did freelance art projects while working full-time in the non-artistic sector, until settling into her role at NatWest.
Four years ago a friend recommended she went on a day course to learn how to create 3D felt animal sculptures, and it proved to be just the artistic outlet she needed.
Fiona spoke about rediscovering her artistic side, she said: “I graduated from art college in the distant past and I think I was looking for something to express that side of me.
“My sister bought me a felt making kit and I wasn’t sure where to start, that’s when a friend told me about a 3D felt sculpting day course - I went and learned how to do it, and found I really enjoyed making them!
“I started by creating a hare, but moved onto more complex animals, like horses, chickens, and even koala bears!
“I do like experimenting and trying new things, but dogs are my favourite animal to recreate.
“I started posting my creations on social media, then etsy, and before I knew it people began to commission me to create portraits of their pets.”
Fiona’s side business picked up quickly in lockdown, so she kept some money to the side to donate to charity - the money piled up and the artist made a huge donation of £2500 to Dogs Trust in West Calder last week.
On her charitable donation, Fiona said: “It’s something I do in my spare time, but it’s something I really enjoy doing, and it’s something I’m passionate about.
“I love animals of all kinds, but I find myself most often creating portraits of people’s dogs - so it was only fitting that I gave to Dogs Trust in West Calder, just down the road from me in Murieston.”
Creating a single portrait can take Fiona up to six hours, but the more complex a portrait is the longer it takes the artist, usually having to split it up into multiple sessions, she explains the process.
“The first thing I have to do is examine the photos, for dogs especially you can get a lot of personality from their pose alone - and my portraits are often for animals that have passed away, so it’s important to me to get it right.
“Then I shape the wire, a bit like a skeleton for the animal - but a little less complex, it just acts as a base.
“I go on to wrap the wire with pipe cleaners, then the wool around that, dyed different colors to fit the animal.
“Then I stab the wool over and over to shape the body and details for the animal - this takes up most of the time required in a portrait, and I like to think of it as a bit like painting with wool on a 3D plane.”
More of Fiona’s artwork can be seen @ffinlaysonart on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, or online at ffinlayson.com.
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