DROOL: When do you feel you first found success in the world of art, and how have you grown since then?

Lisa: Initially it was probably selling pet portraits and having someone outside of my family wanting my artwork on their wall. Later on being selected for exhibitions, some I never imagined I would ever be in, with my own original work has been and still is very exciting.

DROOL: How did you discover your voice in art?

Lisa: I’ve been making art for as long as I can remember but I only discovered linocut and printmaking in 2017. It was like something clicked and all the lights came on, I started carving and printing and I haven’t been able to stop.

DROOL: What compels you to keep driving forward as an artist? How do you aspire to grow as an artist this year?

Lisa: I don’t know really, all I know is I will create one way or another. Every job I’ve ever had has ended up with me making or creating artwork in some way. I was once employed by a publishing company on the run up to Christmas to process credit card purchases. I ended up being with that company for several years, working on the editorial team and being the illustrator for one of their magazines.

This year is where I allow myself to create full time and create bodies of work. Dogs, in real life and in art, are a safe space to me. Whatever I am creating there will always be some dog related work in there too, it lets me go to that soft spot in my heart that is reserved for all dog kind.

DROOL: What about dogs attracts you to them as subjects for your artwork?

Lisa: Making dog related artwork in the company of my dogs, that’s my own little slice of heaven. Life and art would be very dull without the friendship, company and comedy of a dog.

DROOL: Which do you prefer: dogs or people, and why?

Lisa: Dogs, easy. I’m warming to people, or maybe I’ve just met more people who have dogs, I‘m not sure.

DROOL: What characteristics in dogs/breed of dog do you relate to most, and why?

Lisa: I’m most like our little Jack Russell cross, stubborn and determined, but I aspire to be like our Lurcher, that lady runs like the wind and sleeps like a princess.

DROOL: Anything else you want to share with the dog-loving humans of Earth?

Lisa: Love the smell of wet dog, well, the smell of a wet dog drying in the warm after a great walk in the rain. Such a warm, snuggly, comfortable smell. Enjoy every walk in the rain and the lovely warm up afterwards.

Follow Lisa Benson on Instagram @artylisab