Sally Muir is a British artist based in Bath, Somerset, known primarily for her expressive and characterful portraits of dogs. Working across painting, drawing and printmaking, Muir has developed a distinctive style that combines direct observation with a lively, economical line, capturing the individuality and spirit of her subjects. While canine portraiture forms the centre of her practice, her work also includes portraits of people, landscapes, and occasional studies of birds and other animals.

Muir studied Fine Art at the Bath School of Art and Design, graduating with a First Class Honours degree in 2003 after returning to education as a mature student. Since then she has built a successful career as both a commissioned portraitist and exhibiting artist. Her paintings and drawings have appeared regularly in exhibitions across the UK, including the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, the Royal West of England Academy Open exhibitions, and shows at the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath. Her work is held in public and private collections, including the Holburne Museum, as well as the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Collection.

Before focusing fully on fine art, Muir spent many years working as a knitwear designer. Together with her partner Joanna Osborne, she founded the knitwear design company Muir & Osborne, producing patterns and publishing a series of popular knitting books such as Best in Show and Knit Your Own Dog. The pair have authored several titles and a children’s book, Patch’s Grand Dog Show. Muir has also collaborated with lifestyle and fashion brands including Anthropologie, designing products such as tableware, textiles and wallpapers featuring her distinctive imagery.

Muir gained wide attention for her social-media project “A Dog a Day,” in which she produced and shared a different dog portrait every day for a year. The project celebrated the individuality of dogs of all breeds and backgrounds, and later became the basis for a book of the same name. Her continuing fascination with canine character and expression has made her one of the most recognisable contemporary painters of dogs in Britain.

Throughout her career Muir has received numerous awards, including the Holburne Museum Portrait Prize and the Bath Society of Artists Portrait Prize, and she continues to work from her studio in Bath, producing paintings for exhibition and private commission.