Portrait for Beatle's wife is star attraction (From South Wales Argus)

Portrait for Beatle's wife is star attraction

8:10am Thursday 19th November 2009

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ANIMAL artist Ali Bannister has a start-studded commission - painting horses owned by the wife of a Beatle.

The 31-year-old Penhow woman started drawing at the age of 18 and has built up a reputation as a portrait artist specialising mainly in pictures of animals, working in pastels.

So when Beatles drummer Ringo Starr saw one of her animal portraits on the wall of his neighbour's house in Sussex last year, he decided to commission the Gwent woman to paint a portrait of model wife Barbara Bach's horses as a surprise birthday present for her.

The former Bond girl and Ms Bannister have a shared love of horses - Ms Bannister is herself a keen rider She loved the portrait so much that Ms Bannister was commissioned to paint six more of Ms Bach's horses - which she will complete over six months next year.

Although she didn’t meet Mr Star, Ms Bannister met his wife and said she was a very generous and lovely person who was passionate about her horses.

Ms Bannister began drawing horses to curb bordem when recovering from a chronic viral infection whilst studying for a degree in Graphic Design in Brighton.

A friend saw some of her sketches and asked her to paint her horse and she hasn’t looked back since with her work attracting interest from clients world-wide.

Her flair for drawing came at a young age and she was encouraged by her great uncle who was a member of the Royal Academy of Art, her grandmother who paints in oils and her mum who does watercolours.

She was was named Portrait Artist of the Year by website PictureDraw in 2008.

She also painted a portrait of dressage champion Donnersong, one of the most famous horses of all time.

But after more than a decade of painting for other people, she has borrowed back some of her commissions to display locally, and produced around 10 original prints.

“They’re just fun pieces,” Ms Bannister said. “Things that appealed to me and gave me a chance to play about with a sense of humour.”

Now, she is staging her first ever exhibition at Artists Corner in Chepstow which will run until December 6.

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