Alex’s Lurcher

I love the way this Lurcher is looking at the viewer – almost the same pose a human sitter might adopt for a photographer. I explain how I painted this Lurcher, Isla, in my blog post here.  You will see that the painting was quite a challenge, but I am very pleased with the result.  

Interesting Fact: The few Lurchers I have met have all been lovely family dogs – so I was a bit surprised to learn that Lurchers are a mixed-breed dog which can have a whole range of temperaments. Essentially a Lurcher is a ‘sighthound’ (a dog which hunts using its sight and speed) crossed with a working dog breed – which often leads to a fast, intelligent and adaptable dog – often with the temperaments associated with the parents’ breeds. Historically the name Lurcher was associated with illegal hunting / poaching , and they might originally have been bred, at least in the UK, because at one time ‘commoners’ were not allowed to own pure bred sighthounds.  Thankfully, many Lurchers now are well loved family pets.