Dungannon artist teaches the world to draw and paint

A Tyrone artist who now lives in Spain is teaching the world to make art through her online art classes where she gives detailed tutorials on her processes.

Dungannon artist, Emma Colbert, graduated from UCA Maidstone with a BA Hons Illustration in 2007.

Then, she began working on portrait commissions and producing her series of wildlife pastel paintings, and she is now a leading animal portrait artist.

Endorsed by Unison Soft Colour Pastels, she has created colour selections of soft pastels for them designed specifically for painting animals.

“I have always loved painting animals, as previously mentioned,” she said. “But I also worked hard to learn how to paint landscapes, and that’s something I’m still exploring.

“What I’m most interested in is the play of light and shadow.

“So that can be on a still life, a landscape, an animal, or a person. I can enjoy any subject matter but still return to animals as a comfort zone.”

“I think animals have been my main inspiration to paint,” Emma added. “And although I enjoy painting lots of things now, it’s always animals that I enjoy the most.”

After discovering pastels at a young age, Emma knew this was the medium in which she wanted to develop.

An equal love of animals has fuelled a love of painting them.

Using pastels in a painterly way Emma creates highly detailed, vibrant work inspired by the beauty of nature and light.

Having left Ireland in 2016 to travel in a motorhome with her partner, Emma gravitated to the south of Spain, where they plan to ‘settle for the next while’.

“I, initially, left Ireland to tour some of Europe in a motorhome,” Emma said. “And I continued to paint and work as I travelled.

“This led to finding somewhere in Spain where I liked the laid-back lifestyle.

“I am pretty settled here now, but still struggling to become fluent in Spanish!

“The traveling was great feed of inspiration for my painting.”

Emma shares many of her techniques with other artists via a number of online tutorials on her YouTube channel, along with making more detailed tutorials on the funding site Patreon.

You can check out more of her work on her website: www.emmacolbertart.com, and she also regularly posts on Instagram.

If you’d like to learn from Emma, visit her YouTube channel, ‘Emma Colbert Art’, and for more in-depth tutorials, you can join her Patreon at: www.patreon.com/emmacolbertart