Tina Foulger is a woman of many talents. She’s a successful accountant, a gold medal-winning athlete and a devoted mum to her three dogs. She seemingly does it all – and she does it well!
With her work now being displayed at the Art of the Athlete exhibition at Zari Gallery in London, the world is about to see something else that she does incredibly well: realist art. This is one of the main goals that she hopes to achieve with her work.
“My art is a way to share a part of me – the other side of me,” she reveals. “Most people know I’m an accountant, but they don’t know the creative side.”
Tina only picked up art during lockdown when her mother – who herself is very artistic – recommended online tutorials. Tina had previously studied textiles at A-Level but never pursued it as a career after ‘falling into’ accountancy.
She reflects: “I would have loved to have done something creative, but the opportunity kind of never came up and I didn’t follow it through.”
Now aged 51, Tina has well and truly tapped into this side of her personality. Tending to use pastel because it allows her to blend and layer colour while capturing fine detail, she’s been known to lose herself in her work.
“It’s a painstakingly slow process for me but one that gives me so much joy,” she admits. “It’s completely absorbing. The time just disappears!”
As a woman who’s enamoured with her three dogs – Ralph the Rottweiler, Trixie the Wirehaired Vizsla and Shar-Pie/Mastiff cross Toby – it seems only right that these are often the inspiration behind her work. In fact, a painting of Toby that took 40 hours will actually be on show at the exhibition.
“I strive to pick out the glint in the eye that draws you in or the wisp of fur that makes you want to reach out and stroke the painting,” reveals Tina.
On the surface, being a realist senior financial controller by day and a realist artist by night might seem a bit odd, but this isn’t the case for Tina. Instead, she believes that the two things actually go hand in hand.
“You have to be really methodical when you do realism art,” she explains. “It’s very much about the process. It’s about working your way through something and thinking how you can fit it together, which is very similar to accounts.”
She adds: “You have to be very patient and very detailed.”
Before discovering her love of art, Tina first stumbled upon a passion for the sport. She’d been into fitness since her 20s and was eventually encouraged by her husband to take up competitive sport. This led to a string of successes in half marathons and other contests.
She reveals: “I always said that I wasn’t competitive and my husband thinks that that’s hilarious because he thinks I’m the most competitive person he’s ever met – but I don’t see myself that way.”
Tina’s accolades would certainly suggest that her husband was onto something! In 2019 and 2020, she came first in the female master’s category of the Fan Dance, a gruelling 24km SAS Selection test march staged over Pen y Fan in South Wales. The challenge involves carrying a 15kg backpack during the duration of the race.
The thrill of coming first wasn’t short-lived. In 2020, Tina – who had by this point been training under coach Darren Hotten in Olympic Weightlifting – started working towards competing in the BWL British Masters Championships.
In January 2022 her hard work paid off and she can now add a gold medal to her impressive résumé after taking the top spot in the Women’s age 50-54, 59kg category.
Ultimately, Tina believes that her sporting success is a great example of what can happen when you try something new – which is one of the reasons why she is so looking forward to exhibiting her work at the Art of the Athlete.
She says: “If you put your artwork out there and the things that you do, you never know what opportunities that will bring!”
