Dogs with Attitude is a real family affair and is represented by Julie Cope, her husband John and daughter, Jess. The ‘artistic’ gene runs through the entire Cope clan and has been passed down the generations on both sides of Julie’s and John’s families. In addition, we are all mad about dogs and Dacshunds in particular feature in all our households.

Here is a little bit of background about each of us:

Born and bred in Yorkshire, Julie is a multi-talented artist and can work in most mediums across a variety of subject matters.

She has worked as a commercial artist in the UK, a visualiser in advertising agencies in South Africa, has spearheaded many community - based arts projects and has operated broadly as a freelance fine artist.

For dog portraits, Julie prefers to use acrylics, although she occasionally works in oils and pastels.

John is a Geordie by birth and was born in North Sheilds. Like Julie, John has ‘sketched and scribbled’ his way through life since he was a toddler.

He studied 3 - Dimensional Design in Leeds and has a successful international career as a commercial interior designer. In addition, John’s interests include creative photography and political cartooning.

John likes the freedom offered by graphite pencils but also works in acrylics for his dog portraits.

Daughter Jess was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and started making movies with the family video camera by the age of 8. As with Julie and John, she can draw, paint, sculpt and her practical side means she knows her way around a proper ‘tool box’ (always handy in a crisis). Jess studied film and animation at Edinburgh College of Art and has made some stunning films and music videos over the years (check out www.owlhousestudios.com).

Jess’s preferred medium is oils, but is also happy to work in acrylics when required.