From David Bowie to the Queen, everyone loved her paintings
BRITAIN is full of unsung heroes and heroines who deserve recognition. Here, in our weekly obituary column, the moving and inspirational stories of ordinary people who have lived extraordinary lives, and who died recently, are told by their loved ones …
FrOM the moment in childhood that she picked up a paintbrush, Pollyanna — I always called her that, never Mum — only ever wanted to be an artist. Her ambitions, though, weren’t applauded by everyone. when she announced she’d like to go to art school, she was summoned by the headmistress to show her portfolio — and told: ‘You’ll never make a living at that!’
Fortunately, Pollyanna’s parents had more faith in her talent, and she went to rotherham art school, where she won the award for ‘Most Promising student’ at the end of the first year.
It was there that she met my dad Ken Pickering, who would go on to be an industrial designer. they married in april 1963 when she was just 21 and I came along six years later.
while Pollyanna would gain international acclaim as a wildlife artist, it was the industrial landscapes of her Yorkshire childhood in Leeds and sheffield that were her initial inspiration.
Like many artists she started out scraping a living — money was so tight that she would scour jumble sales to buy frames for her work.
that all changed in 1971 when she signed with her first publisher and produced a series of prints of pedigree dogs.
they were an instant hit, bringing Pollyanna’s work to a wider audience, including the charity Oxfam, which in 1974 commissioned her to design one of their Christmas cards.
I think nearly every home in Britain — and many abroad — will have enjoyed her art at some time in the form of Christmas or greeting cards, prints or calendars.
Pollyanna also attracted some famous clients, among them conservationist and actress Virginia McKenna (who starred in Born Free), the late actor John Hurt — and the Queen, for whom she was commissioned to paint Her Majesty’s favourite racing pigeon at the royal Pigeon Loft at sandringham. when she took the call she thought it was a hoax!
another early fan was David Bowie, who bought one of her industrial works. He continued to follow her career and in 1978, when he was working on his album Lodgers, he invited her on a working trip to the Masai Mara in Kenya, believing she would find inspiration there.
sadly, she was unable to go: by then she was nursing my dad through the cancer which claimed his life in 1979 at just 41.
widowed at 37, with a young daughter, Pollyanna threw herself into her work. she finally made it to Kenya in 1986, and in the course of her life undertook any number of intrepid exhibitions, whether it was camping in igloos in the High arctic or journeying by river boat through the forests of Borneo. she painted on every continent and her work sold in 80 countries.
I accompanied her on many of these trips and saw how nothing fazed her, whether it was sub-zero temperatures in siberia or scorpions in her camp bed.
Pollyanna was as passionate about the environment as she was about her art. Patron of more than 30 nature charities, she also established the Pollyanna Pickering Foundation to raise funds for conservation, animal welfare and international disaster relief.
My indefatigable mother had so many plans. tragically, she died last month after a short illness. we miss her so much, but take comfort from the way her wonderful work will live on. PollyaNNa PickeriNg, born July 30, 1942, died March 29, 2018, aged 75.