WITH ART work displayed all over the world, and a multitude of prestigious awards in the bag, it’s amazing to think that for internationally acclaimed artist Louise Jarvis, it all started at Vikingar twenty years ago.

The 32 year old animal artist was born in Fairlie before moving to Largs as a child, and her beautiful paintings now hang in seventeen different countries, including Australia and Canada. Local people may know her as Louise Campbell, her maiden name.

So why animals? Louise explained: “The thing I love about doing pet portraits is the various different animals I get to draw which makes my job fascinating. No two animals are ever the same!” She is now a multi-award winner, after two of her most famous pieces were awarded the “Highly Commended” accolade in the UK national competition by the Association of Animal Artists, and her work was accepted for the esteemed Society of Equestrian Artists annual show in London in 2012.

But her first ever art prize was won right in her spiritual home of Largs when she designed the front page of the Christmas programme for Barrfields performance of “Alibaba and the forty thieves” in 1994. Her prize? A mountain bike and tickets to the show!

After studying at Fairlie Primary School then Largs Academy in her younger years, Louise moved to Dundee to study at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, before graduating in 2006 with a degree in illustration and printmaking. Louise now lives in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, with her four young sons and her partner, Jeroen, an artist from Holland.

Louise’s new found fame doesn’t stop her visiting Largs regularly to see her mother, May Cockburn, of Sinclair Drive. Despite finding success all around the globe, she says she won’t forget her roots, and loves coming to Largs whenever she can.

But spare time is limited for Louise, who painted even whilst in labour with her 8 month old son Elliott, and started working again just five days after giving birth. Amazingly, she doesn’t complain.

She said: “I love my job. It is my passion and my life. I cannot think of anything better than creating portraits or pieces of art of beautiful animals every day. I truly am blessed in that I live my dream every day!” Having now been a full time artist for four years, working on both commissions and gallery work, Louise already has over 18,000 fans on Facebook and Twitter, and this number just keeps on growing.

The next challenge for the hugely talented artist is to release her very own book in 2015, featuring as many breeds of dog as possible. Although her work focuses heavily on animal art, Louise is certainly not a one trick pony. She has talents in various different types of work, including children’s book illustration, life drawing, fine art and even animation projects.

Thinking back to her days in Largs, she said: “Ever since I was a little girl I have loved drawing and painting. I always knew I wanted to be an artist so after studying art at high school in Ayrshire I decided to continue my art education. I never even dreamed I would get this far and I feel proud thinking back to where it all began.” �-� You can see Louise’s impressive art work on her Facebook page, or by visiting her website www.louisejarvis.co.uk.