Steph Kennett's Pet Portraits is Trader of the Week

Steph Kennett, 44, owns Steph’s Pet Portraits, a watercolour painting business.

While mostly painting pictures of dogs, Steph also creates paintings with chickens, cats and cows among other animals.

Speaking on her experience as a painter, Steph said: “I hadn't ever really painted before.

“It was one of those things in lockdown, where everybody's world shut down.

“My daughter and I were looking for things to do, and she's quite creative, and I thought, oh, there's a free online watercolour class.

"It was a phenomenal lady called Little Red Boots, and she's in Fordingbridge, and she's a phenomenal watercolour artist, and she's got a lovely, lovely technique. And she was doing these three tutorials to get everybody through, and I was producing rubbish. I did take art at a level, but I'd never tried watercolour."

Steph also featured at a stall at this year's Dogstival, an event that sees more than 10,000 participants every year.

Speaking on the event, Steph added: “Dogstival is a wonderful celebration of all dogs, skilled craft persons and awesome charities and I am very grateful and happy to be allowed to be part of it.

Steph also dedicates her time to adding an extra special package for her customers, she added: “The idea for the wildflower seeded cards came from the loss of a friend's much-loved dog. I painted the image of Ellie and then had the idea to print the picture onto seeded paper so that she could plant Ellie and watch her wildflowers grow in the spring.

"Now I always enclose 2 free cards with every commission.

“It’s a nicer way of keeping their memory alive."

Steph hopes to one day be featured in the Hampshire Open Studios, an exhibition that shows different artists with pottery, paintings and other mixed media across the county.

She added: “I would love to do that, but with everything so busy this year with Dogstival, I hope to be brave enough to be part of the exhibition next year.”