Exhibition Review: Society of Feline Artists 2009

Part of the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Feline Artists
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

On Tuesday, after leaving the Threadneedle Exhibition at the Mall Galleries, I travelled just one stop on the Northern Line down to Waterloo to attend the Champagne Private View of the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Feline Artists which was opened by David Grant, the celebrity vet and patron of the Society.

The annual exhibition is always held at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery at 124-126 The Cut London SE1 8LN. It's situated right across the road from the Old Vic Theatre and is also just across the road from Waterloo Station. The exhibition continues until Friday 18th September - and the gallery is open until 7.30pm each evening Monday - Saturday.

You can also preview the exhibition online on the SOFA exhibition page on the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery website.

[Update - Denise Laurent (The Painted Cat - on the Easel) and official SOFA photographer has now posted her photos of the exhibition to Flickr and this is a slideshow of work in the SOFA annual exhibition]

Gayle Mason (Fur in the Paint) and I both attended - and found that our work was in the window - which is never an easy spot to get a photograph hence the curious tilt on this one - my three drawings in coloured pencil are on the right.

(top right) Meet the Kittens £275
Coloured Pencil on Paper, 11.5 x 7.5 ins 290 x 190 mm

(bottom left) Pick of the Litter £250
Coloured Pencil on Paper, 7.5 x 7.5 ins 190 x 190 mm

(bottom right) Kittens Rule OK! £275
Coloured Pencil on Paper, 11.5 x 7.5 ins 290 x 190 mm

Gayle had for the second year running sold one of her works - Moody Blue - prior to the opening of the exhibition.

We also discovered that an image of Moody Blue had been used to promote the exhibition in The Cat magazine when I spotted a copy of the relevant page of the magazine in the hands of somebody next to me! The Cat is the official magazine of the Cats Protection League - a very worthwhile body.

The exhibition is as always full of work of a very high standard and includes drawings, paintings and prints of cats of every type, style, shape and size!

I'm always amazed whenever I attend any of the specialised exhibitions about just how many different ways you can represent a cat (or wildlife or flowers etc). For all those people puzzled about style - in relation to this month's poll about style - can I suggest that it's very worthwhile attending exhibitions like this just to see how many different ways you can apply media to a support while portraying one type of subject matter!

Colourful and monochrome drawings paintings and prints of cats - in all styles
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

There's always an emphasis on representational art but within that while there is a strong cohort of artists - like Jacqueline Gaylard and Dominic O'Callaghan - who place an emphasis on extremely realistic paintings and drawings.

This year they've been joined by a new artist called Natalie Mascall who is producing really excellent work in pastel and was probably the fastest selling artist at the Preview. None of her work is available to be seen in the online exhibition and has in any case sold! However you can see a couple of examples on her website Geoffrey's cat and Home Comforts. Natalie's other big interest is wildlife and this year she won the "Endangered Species" category and was runner up in the "World Mammals" category of the BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year. It's always great to see a new talent emerging and I predict a great future for this artist.

If you enjoy feline art do go along and see the show - my kittens are in the window staring at the Old Vic and might be wondering about a future on the stage! ;)