Sue Kerrigan-Harris
“Art makes my heart sing
and my soul smile”
Hello, it’s wonderful to ‘meet’ you and I’m so glad you’ve found me! I’m a Professional Soft Pastel Artist and Art Teacher based in the New Forest, Hampshire UK.
For as long as she can remember I have had a passion for portraits. “It is what I was born to do. I’m honoured by the people who choose me to paint their loved ones allowing me to create timeless treasured memories.”
In March 2020 I was chosen to became an Associate Artist with Unison Colour, my preferred soft pastel brand and I started teaching soft pastel classes online to people all over the world. I also teach workshops online and demonstrate to Art Groups worldwide. If you’d like to learn about how I teach read this.
A Little About Me
I love to paint pastel portraits from your photographs with buttery smooth soft pastels. Pure pigments of colour that create ever-lasting memories to light up your life. Portraiture is my passion – people, pets and wildlife.
The most important factors in achieving a perfect portrait for you is receiving a good quality photo and then our communication throughout the process. I take pride in having detailed discussions about the exact colouring required and getting a true likeness of the person I am painting.
The skill of a good pastel portrait artist is about being able to see beyond the photo. 30 years of study has enabled me to capture a true likeness of the subjects I paint. The twinkle in the eyes, the slight, almost unnoticeable angle of the mouth and the contours and shades of skin or fur that make a person or pet unique.
I am a privately trained artist because I found formal schooling in art disappointing. I seek out experienced professionals to teach and guide me in the direction I wish to go. Feel free to take a look at my pastel portrait galleries: animal portraits and people portraits.
I thought that after 30 years of practice it was time to become a professional pastel portrait artist. With the birth of my son in 2013 this became an easy transition from my former career which I could no longer continue due to all the commitments of being a new mum and being quite poorly after he was born. But before I could fully commit there was one thing I had to do – paint my son, Oliver.
I’ve had a varied career to say the least starting at 13 as a Jewellery Designer. Then a Glass Blower to Broadcasting Engineer to Teacher and Business Owner. I built a successful and sought after career as a Private English and Maths tutor which led me on a path to discover that I am Dyslexic. This would account for the reason that I like to paint with both hands or swap from time to time – It may also account for the varied career! But through it all I always continued to draw.
From becoming a teacher I developed maths games with the children I taught and developed an award winning business helping children learn maths skills with games. I won the Theo Paphitis #SBS Award, the British Dyslexia Association’s Entrepreneur Award and the Networking Mummies Award for Best Product.
Find out how to commission a portrait with me and you are welcome to phone me. Tel: 07740 282399