Taunton artist helps Children's Hospice South West

Taunton artist Debra Cazalet has donated one of her painting's to cricketer Marcus Trescothick to help raise funds for his chosen charity, the Children's Hospice South West.

 The artist attended Somerset County Cricket's end of season presentation dinner on December 2nd where she handed over the work . Debra is also currently completing commissions for two world-class athletes taking part in next year's London Olympics.

She said: "As an artist trying to appeal to new audiences by creating new strands of work in the field of sports, it seemed logical to start locally, by creating an awareness within surrounding sports related clubs and businesses. With Somerset cricket being right on my doorstep it was a no-brainer to start there!

" From an artist's perspective, cricketers throw some great shapes, and this batting pose of Marcus appealed to the sense of dynamism I try to express in my work. It's very sculptural."

Marcus said: "This is a really powerful and vibrant piece of art, I know the charity will be very grateful for Debra's donation and wish her the very best of luck for the future in her artistic career."

Debra commented: "I've always been keen on fitness myself and love the feeling of generating energy, so to move into sports art is a natural progression. I feel there is a real gap for sports art that is non-traditional, so I am working on developing my expressionistic style in this area. And with the Olympics getting closer by the day, I think it will be a very interesting year to come."

Another sport Debra is keen to explore is boxing and wanted to become a boxer in her teens, she added: "I guess you could say I was a bit rebellious at the time and wanted to channel my energies!"

On a recent trip to film Lee Haskins, a Prizefighter 2011 winner out of Chris Sanigar's Bristol Boxing Gym, a long distant memory was rekindled. The film will be used to extract stills and create a large canvas.

Debra explained: "It will be less portrait, more expression. I'm thinking a multi-media installation could be the end result, as I prefer to let a work evolve over time than do to much pre-planning!"

Debra's work is already attracting the attentions of collectors and can be seen on debracazalet.com/sports or by following 'Sports Portraits & Art' on facebook. For further information on future events or for general enquiries, please contact sports.portraits.art@gmail.com