I absolutely adore Gloucester Old Spot Pigs. They’re your classic spotty pig and feature in my watercolour painting ‘Painswick Pigs’ and also in my pen and wash pictures ‘Nosey Porker’ and ‘Piggy in a Pool’.
They also have the nickname ‘Orchard Pig’ because they were often kept in orchards and legend has it that their black spots are bruises caused by apples falling from the trees.
The Gloucester Old Spot pigs in my pictures all lived in a lovely paddock in Painswick, Gloucestershire, along with some geese and I was lucky enough to go and photograph them one morning. In the paddock the pigs hardly noticed me, which was a bit frustrating because I wanted them to look at me and pose! – but that wasn’t going to happen. I was slightly concerned by the geese noticing me though, as a long time ago I was chased by geese and it’s not pleasant! so I was slightly wary and avoided them.
I did manage to get some good photos though and as I left one of the pigs followed me to the gate and I just managed to catch him peeping at me as I walked away. It was the last photo I took and was the image I used for ‘Nosey Porker’.
Click below to see the products I have available that feature these lovely porkers.