We are all great fans of Rick Stein cooking and love his TV cooking adventures that take him around the world. We loved the fact that his dog Chalky, often accompanied Rick on his culinary journeys and that he also achieved a similar status to the chef, himself!

Although Chalky sadly passed away in early 2007, it was only in late 2009 that we had the idea to paint Chalky and sent it to Rick as a thank you for sharing him with us all on his TV programmes. Surprisingly, there are very few photos publicly available of Chalky, so we had minimal material to work with. Given that Chalky was a rough-haired Jack Russell and often looked ‘very windswept’, we decided on a quick and bold approach to the portrait to capture the unique spirit of Chalky.

Our daughter Lisa, once again came to the rescue and found the contact details of Rick’s agent and we off our painting of Chalky down to Padstow in Cornwall. We were hugely relieved to hear that he adored the portrait of Chalky and a week or so later, a huge Rick Stein hamper arrived on our doorstep in North Yorkshire.

Excerpt from The Dail Mail:

My haven: Rick Stein the chef and restaurateur, 65, is happiest in the kitchen of his cottage in Padstow on the Cornish coast

By RICK STEIN

PUBLISHED: 22:31, 28 December 2012 

STAR OF THE SHOW

An organisation called Dogs With Attitude sent me this oil painting of my Jack Russell, Chalky. He was 18 when he died five years ago and he’s very much missed. He was both a family dog and the star of all my TV series. He’d appear in most episodes and he always seemed  to steal the show.  His favourite food  was fish and chips, especially the batter. I’ve been sent quite a few pictures of him over the years, but this is my favourite.