I didn’t start learning to paint seriously until I reached 60 ish. I just try to do my best and enjoy the experience and fun of it. I like to experiment and sometimes amazing things happen that I didn’t expect or plan.

Art is subjective anyway… but to emphasise the idea that art should be fun and bring joy, take a look at the extremely talented artist called Hercule Van Wolfwinkle, not his real name, who one day deliberately painted a bad portrait of his dog as a joke.

A bit of fun has turned into an amazing following on Facebook – Pet Portraits by Hercule, where Hercule uses his incredible gift to raise money for the homeless charity Turning Tides. Hercule will paint a stunning portrait of your pet in return for a small donation to the charity.

Hercule pretends to ask £299 plus no VAT, which was the amount he initially hoped to raise. All the customer reviews are fake, just the comments are real. The page is hilarious and never fails to make me laugh. I’m sure a visit will make you smile too…

A Few Of My Favourites

Pet Portraits by Hercule

This little fella belongs to Harriet… I’m afraid I don’t know what his name is but I’ve been calling him Curly Stokoe.

£299. No VAT

Review from the customer:

‘You know when you’ve had the worst day ever and you’re just about to settle down with your favourite film and a nice bottle of wine……and your mobile rings…..and it’s the mother-in-law………whose neighbour you don’t even know has just had an operation…..? Yeah, that’s how this picture makes me feel’

Post from a real fan: – I’m a bit concerned about the end of his tail behind his head – looks a bit ???

Pet Portraits by Hercule

This is Barney…Barney belongs to the lovely Rosella who was so far down the bottom of my inbox it took me longer to find her message than it did to draw the picture of Barney!

£299. No VAT

Review from the customer:

‘You know if you took more than six minutes to do this, it would probably end up more enjoyable for all of us. And I bet its not the first time you’ve heard that before’

Post from Barney’s real mum: – For a long time we thought Barney was mute… I’ve never heard him growl before but I had to take the picture away to make him stop. (Seriously though, Absolutely loving this, thank you so much!)

Pet Portraits by Hercule

This is the beautiful Honey-Bee and she belongs to the most wonderful Richard …

I’ve drawn this in my ultra-realistic style so the usual reminder that my drawing is the picture on the right.

£299. No VAT

Review from the customer:

‘I walk 15 dogs everyday, by default I see a lot of s**t. But this is the worst thing I’ve ever seen’

Post from a real fan: – Did something land on her head?