A portrait of last year’s Crufts Best in Show winner, Ch Collooney Tartan Tease was unveiled at Crufts 2019 on Saturday 9th March in the Resorts World Arena at the NEC, Birmingham.
Artist Anne Zoutsos presented the painting to Crufts Chairman, Tom Mather, in front of thousands of spectators in the arena. Anne and Tom were joined for the presentation by Tease and her proud owner, Yvette Short.
Following the presentation, the portrait was transported to London to become part of the Kennel Club Art Collection and is now on display. Yvette will receive a limited edition print of the painting.
Anne Zoutsos is a full-time artist and has painted professionally for over 30 years. Anne is based in Surrey and her work, including paintings of wild animals and dog portraiture, can be found in collections all over the world.
Speaking after the presentation, Anne said: “Tease (Champion Collooney Tartan Tease) is such an elegant and rather regal-looking dog that I decided to paint her with a backdrop of a largely blue sky which I felt complemented her colouring nicely and emphasised her beautiful outline. As Tease and her owners and breeder live in Scotland I thought it appropriate to put her in a Scottish type landscape with distant mountains. I didn’t include any Scottish tartan in the portrait as I felt it wouldn’t fit very well with her lovely brindle markings so I added a thistle, the emblem of Scotland, instead.”