Denise Wood was born in Poole, England in 1969. She started out as a professional dancer, but where life lead her wasn’t what she once dreamt of becoming.
She always had a need to create in some way or another, whether it was complicated dance choreography, making jewellery or continually rearranging the house and changing colour schemes. The artistic urge was always there, demanding to be taken seriously.
At school she loved to draw and paint, but a career as an artist didn’t unfortunately seem the best choice - far too many starving artists out there.
However in 1997 whilst living in Abu Dhabi, a chance meeting with a British pastel artist made her rethink her old dream.
She then started taking classes in pastels and learning how to do “human” portraits. She worked for a number of years in pastel before her love affair with pencil and charcoal began. For this “A type” Virgo perfectionist, using pastels seemed a very messy process indeed and as soon as she tried a drawing in pencil, she knew she had found her ideal medium. She then taught herself how to use pencil and charcoal to achieve the realistic look she wanted. It was around this time she also realized she should be drawing what she loved and understood – animals.
Denise adores animals, almost an obsession her family and friends would tell you, drawing landscapes and human portraits simply didn’t move her, but give her an animal to capture on canvas and she springs into action.
Therefore in 1999 she set up her Pet Portrait website and dedicated her time to perfecting her animal art work. To further enhance her knowledge she also took a course with the London College of Art that solely concentrated on Pet Portraiture.
Denise hopes through her artwork she can raise awareness about animal welfare; especially in the countries where she has lived and witnessed firsthand such terrible cruelty. She donates 5% of any pet portrait commissions to animal welfare.
