Throughout the interview Irish Country Living refers to Kathryn Shaw’s work as paintings. Eventually we ask what medium the Tyrone artist uses, such is the detail and texture it must be acrylic paint?

The answer surprises us, it is actually chalk pastel mounted on a black board. Kathryn says not to worry, people often make that mistake.

She draws commissioned pictures of animals, mostly pedigree cattle and some dogs. One of her drawings was on the cover of the Irish Simmental Cattle Society’s 2017 Yearbook. She is a 21-year-old graphic design student, artist and photographer.

Pastel drawings by Kathryn Shaw.

Her father Alfie Shaw has a photography business, Agri Images, which she also works in. They primarily take pictures at shows and sales. This has worked in Kathryn’s favour with regard to her artwork, she is swotted up on all the top pedigree animals. Also, she draws from photographs, which obviously she already has a great grounding in.

Kathryn says that when taking pictures it is important to get the animal’s personality across and this translates to drawing too.

“It sounds so weird, but each animal has a character. Getting the character in there is the thing. If you have a good picture it is a lot easier to draw that element of it. They could be cheeky for example, so you need to portray that,” she explains.

Early start

Agri Images was setup 10 years ago and although she was only 11, Kathryn was involved from the

very beginning.

“I remember dad taking me down to Belfast to get me my wee Nikon when I was about 11. My first show I just went and followed him about, but now between the two of us we are covering the sales and shows.

“The commissioned drawings, I would have done maybe the odd one when I was in school, but since I started uni I’ve done a lot more.”

Growing up on the family farm obviously helped Kathryn train her eye to animals early on. When we ring her for a chat she is home from her university placement in Belfast and out feeding hens.

“We had Simmentals on the farm for about 30 years between granda and dad.

"We sold them about six years ago, because the photography just got so busy. Dad obviously missed the cattle on the farm, we still had the sheep, but have pedigree Shorthorns now since last year, about 15 or so at the minute.”

Merging her artistic talents and her farming background, Kathryn’s drawings, with their minute detail, are just about one step away from mooing.

For more on Kathryn’s work see Kathryn Shaw Art on Facebook.