Ruth Buchanan's equestrian and figurative can be found in corporate collections and in the private collections of notable names in the arts and equestrian spheres both at home and abroad. Her work also features on the cover of the book The Yard by Grace Olson. Ruth has won National and International awards for painting, drawing and for her sketchbooks, and has been selected five times as one of fifteen artists to represent England at Fabriano in Aquarello, the International exposition of watercolour painting from 75 countries in Fabriano, Italy.

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Born in London and raised in Northampton, Ruth has been based in Yorkshire since completing her bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design with an Illustration Major, also achieving a First for her Art History dissertation. Following a career as a Graphic Designer & Illustrator, then five years teaching 'A' and Diploma level Print Media at a College of Further Education, Ruth became a full-time Professional Artist in 2001. Her work includes studies of architecture and human figurative work as well as paintings of horses and other animals, all of which is underpinned by strong drawing and an understanding of composition as well as tonal and colour balances. Her work is informed by both regular Life Drawing and an ingrained sketchbook habit. Ruth is based at her studio in Yorkshire, .

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Ruth was encouraged by her (now sadly missed) mentor, Les Packham, to demonstrate her painting and drawing techniques, and to teach workshops. She has taught internationally as well as in the UK, and writes demonstration articles for British and American art magazines on wide-ranging subjects including figure drawing; drawing and painting animals; and her Ten Approaches to Drawing; which was originally developed as a series of workshops.

 

Continued Learning is an important part of both Ruth's life and her Art practice. In additional to self-study, she has studied with American painters Thomas Schaller (architecture in watercolour), Stanka Kordic (Disrupted Realism portraiture) and Stephen Quilller (colour theory). Her collaborative studies continue with Andres Jaroslavsky (Life Drawing and portraiture) and Lesley Humphrey (contemporary equine, figurative and abstract art). Ruth has a

long-standing co-mentoring partnership with expressionist figurative artist, Julie Cross.

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Promoted to Full Member of The Society of Equestrian Artists in 2016, Ruth is also a Signature Member of The Institute of Equine Artists, a member of the International Watercolour Society (British Isles), and has served on the committee of the Association of Animal Artists.

 

Ruth undertakes a limited number of commissions per year and writes about art practice and techniques alongside her own painting. Her book Hoof, Hide & Heart: the art of drawing and painting animals, is an expanded collection of a series of eleven articles originally published in The Artist magazine. Hoof, Hide & Heart was launched at Ruth's joint exhibition with co-mentor Julie Cross, Thump of the Tale in 2019.