Celia Pike
Celia Pike, renowned feline artist, is one of Animal Protection Trust’s Patrons. Celia’s paintings of cats have been exhibited in top UK galleries and also at the Society of Feline Artists’ (SOFA) annual exhibition in London.
Celia has been a loyal and generous supporter of APT for many years and, during this time, has painted an original watercolour of cats, used specifically as APT’s very own Christmas card, as well as donating other Christmas cards, of her cat paintings, to help raise funds.
Celia said: “It was a lovely surprise and great honour to be asked to become Patron of Animal Protection Trust, as I have always been impressed by the hard work of everyone involved. I have rescue cats of my own and have great admiration for all the volunteers who give up their time to help make a difference to rescued pets that need new homes.”
Celia, who lives in S.E London with her husband, Richard and two sons, has her own feline family of four: Woody, Rufus, Chester and Cheetah, all of whom have provided her with endless subject matter for her work. Since celebrating her postgraduate degree from the Royal Academy of Art School in London, Celia has painted professionally and exhibited her work in galleries across the UK. During her busy career, Celia has undertaken many varied commissions and her work has been featured on a wide range of greeting cards and calendars. In 2001, Celia was approached by the production designer of the famous Bridget Jones film, to provide paintings of cats to adorn the walls of the house of Bridget’s parents. As we know, the film was a great success. In 2003 Celia was asked to provide further paintings for the sequel, Edge of Reason. The special request resulted in Celia painting ‘Film Star Cat’, using her own rescue cat, Chester as the inspiration. She was later invited to the Shepperton studios to see her paintings on the set. Celia said: “It was a great thrill to be asked to the studios and I was very lucky to see three of the main stars of the film: Colin Firth, Renee Zellwegger and Jim Broadbent. It was such an exciting experience and then wonderful to go to the cinema and see my paintings in the film.”