Animal instinct gives Sally’s art human perspective

MORIAC’s Sally Ford is turning her happy knack for making animals look human into art.
Her giraffes with long, seductive eyelashes, emus with mischief writ large across their faces and foxes with trusting orbs make for a distinctive painter’s opus.
Meerkats, cows, dogs, owls and rosellas, tigers and leopards and frazzled-looking chooks – they’re all invested with uncannily human characteristic.
But Sally says she just paints them the way she sees them.
“I use a basic picture or image when I’m painting but it never comes out that way.
“It’s my own style. I think ‘How do I see it?’ but that’s how I put it down.’’
Some appear like caricatures, others life-like representation. But all convey emotions of a human kind: curiosity, innocence, humour.
“I do paint a lot of chickens,’’ Sally says.
“In fact, there’s a graveyard out the back for chickens. I had four but I only have one left – she still gives me an egg a day.’’
Defunct chooks notwithstanding, Sally’s Moriac studio – a typically chaotic artist’s cave – has been her artistic haven since retiring from a 20-year career in nursing 18 months ago.
Her works make for colourful exhibits at Drysdale’s Café Zoo as well as Skipton Art Gallery and Cafe further afield.