Mouse Cooper *
David “Mouse” Cooper grew up around horses and animals, and from an early age he showed precocious talent at two things, sitting on a horse, and drawing. He has spent most of his life doing both. He was brought up in the East End of London, where he remembers drawing the draught horses which were stabled nearby, under the railway arches. His teachers at school spotted a precocious talent, and he was offered a chance to study at the prestigious Goldsmith’s College, but the lure of horse-racing won out, and he joined the industry from school. Initially, he worked as an apprentice jockey, and then a work-rider, with trainers who included Bill Marshall, David Elsworth, Michael Stoute, and Stuart Williams. He ended his days in racing working as a head-lad for Mark Tompkins.
During this time he drew and painted continuously, often capturing the horses and scenes he was surrounded by. After a spell working as an animal-care technician at the Rossdale Equine Hospital in Exning, he put himself through college to obtain a City and Guilds Diploma in art and design, which enabled him then to apply to read Fine Arts at the Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. He graduated in 2007 with an Honours degree, and went on to study for a Teaching Certificate (Pt.1).
He now spends most of his time painting and teaching, and much less time sitting on horses, but still loves to be around them.
In 2019 Cooper moved from Newmarket to a studio flat in a converted Georgian watermill in Fakenham, Norfolk. Whilst keeping close links with the racing community, the move has allowed him to widen his subject matter.
Not for the first time for artists, the Norfolk landscape has proved an artistic inspiration. He has also broadened his subject matter to include still life studies, and portraits.
In his own work he strives to capture movement, and the play of light. His working method is to sketch extensively, and he then works these up once back in the studio. Even when not sketching, he is constantly making mental notes and observations on colour, tone and light.
He is most heavily influenced by Munnings in his work with horses, and the Impressionists and Post-impressionists, particularly Bonnard and Vuillard, in his approach to his other paintings. He feels strongly that the artist never stops learning, and Mouse has gained enormously from the study of other artists’ work.
His paintings invariably capture ‘atmosphere’. In both his human and animal portraits, he is able to convey character; they are never simply photographic representations of the subject in front of him.
