Meet The Artist - Bree Merryn

In this edition of ‘Meet the Artist’, we had a conversation with the wonderful Bree Merryn, one of the UK’s best-selling wildlife artists. Bree’s fantastic vision for wildlife personality paired with acrylic and watercolour painting acumen has means her talent has blossomed into the vibrant and fulfilling career she has today.

Via video link, Bree spoke to us about her life and the origins of her superb artwork.

Childhood Inspiration

Growing up in suburban England, Bree Merryn’s seeds of talent were sewn into the soil by her grandmother who inspired her creativity in her childhood.

“I get all [my] creativity from my grandmother”, Bree said in reflection.

“She didn’t have any professional training; she was a very naturally creative person.”

Creativity and practical applications for her art, taught by her grandmother, have followed Bree throughout her life, leading her to design and craft her home furnishings and even make her own wedding dress.

Bree said, “She taught me how to sew, I would say it’s my second love.”

As Bree grew up, the lessons from her grandmother and her determination to improve her painting shone as she joined art groups to perfect her style and learn from other budding artists.

When she moved north to the edge of the Yorkshire Dales in the 90s, Bree settled down and started a family with her husband Barry. The focus on her family meant her artistic pursuits had to take a seat on the side-line.

As her children got older and family life took over, Bree left her job as an HR professional but managed to find a way to keep learning. 

She said about this time, “I couldn’t work, but that’s when I took the opportunity to go to college.

“It was a day course so I could fit it in around the children.”

Bree smiled and added, “That was it. I had found my thing.”

Whilst studying, Bree started learning different techniques to improve her versatility on the canvas and her dexterity in watercolour and oil painting.

Bree then followed her passion for characters saying, “Originally, I was drawing and painting landscapes, but I was particularly drawn to characters and faces, so eventually, I started concentrating on portraits.”

After attending live classes, Bree focused on the next and most important step of her artistic journey, “Then I started developing my own style.

“I was doing portraits with people and then I started doing some pet portraits which was so much easier because animals aren’t critical [as humans].

“I really, really enjoyed that because I could bring in my portrait training experience into actually creating the character or picking up the character of a pet.”

Today

Whether it is painting pets or farmland animals, Bree’s expressive translation of animals to canvas meant her artwork had become very popular. After securing licensing from publishers, Barry joined her to manage the business side of their artistic venture.

Bree said, “I just want to paint.

“I paint, hand it over to Barry and he does all the hard work.

“He’s got all the business knowledge, and I’ve got the creative side, and so it’s like the perfect scenario for me.” 

Bree and Barry launched their business ‘Bree Merryn Art Ltd’ in 2016, selling her art on a variety of soft furnishings and canvases.

And with the mention of the business, Barry excitedly popped his head into the frame of the Microsoft Teams call. He had been sitting beside Bree since the start, supporting her and helping her to gather paintings she wanted to show.

He wanted to tell us more about 'Bree Merryn Art', which started with the difficult early days of the business.

“For the first nine months, we were working out of our garage and framing the prints ourselves, packing and sending the prints ourselves”, Barry said.

“We literally did start from almost nothing.”

Today, Bree Merryn’s art is sold to over 500 stores across the country.

“We are massively proud of the business,” Barry said smiling next to his wife Bree.

“To see her creative, for me, is a joy and I feel privileged to share that process.”

The success of her art has allowed her to travel and interpret some her favourite animals onto the canvas

Bree said, “I would say African animals are probably my favourite to paint.

“We’ve been lucky enough to go to an African safari.

“We saw a two-day-old baby elephant wandering around in their family group, and it just melted my heart.”

As the business expands, other members of the Merryn family have applied their expertise to help where they can.

Talking about her son, Bree said, “[He’s] also creative, and part of his business is video production, so he had all the expertise and advice to get me going”

Enriched with complementarity; Bree’s imaginative creativity and loving family have grown a successful business with evergreen roots stemming back to her artistic grandmother. Every touch of her brush blossoms with pride and love, intrinsic to the tones of art she produces and the family life she leads.

If you would like to explore Bree’s wonderful range at Calendar Club, click here.

Alternatively, Bree has a range of amazing products available on her website here.

Written by: Thomas Cross