The winners of the 2023 Wildlife Artist of the Year have now been announced. Enter our winners gallery, or scroll down to view all finalist artworks, and People’s Choice winners.
ARTWORK DESCRIPTION
Anisha’s watercolour painting aims to record the glorious lives of wild tigers as they would look in man’s faded and distant memory. Anisha prays that a time when wild tigers no longer exist will never come.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Anisha Heble celebrates the natural world through her art. She endeavours to capture the infinite beauty and energy of wildlife that is so fragile in today’s world. Anisha loves the fluidity and spontaneity of watercolou, along with the mastery required to control this medium to capture the undefined beauty of nature. After spending over 20 years in advertising and design, Anisha now dedicates herself entirely to her passions of wildlife and painting, and donates part of her earnings through art towards conservation and animal care. Anisha lives and works in Dubai.
A hunter, a mother, and a fearless protector. The lioness prowls, stealthy and graceful, amidst the shadows toward her prey. This was the inspiration for Gale More O’Ferrall’s sensitively rendered painting. Gale recalls that, as a Zimbabwean, she has spent time in close proximity with these wildcats and on becoming a mother herself grew a deep admiration for the maternal behaviour of the lioness.
Gale More-O’Ferrall is a full time professional representational artist who works mainly in oils and acrylics. Growing up in Zimbabwe, Gale went on to study fine arts at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Gale’s work is eclectically rich in subject matter and reflects her sincere appreciation of the people and places that have formed her life’s journey so far. She has been teaching internationally for 25 years and in 2011 moved to Vancouver where she has made her mark on the north American art scene.
In Katy Rundle’s colourful and creatively detailed mixed media piece ‘Essential Worker’, a white backed African vulture looks to the sky for his kettle. Katy was inspired by these magnificent birds whilst living in Kenya, although her reference photo was taken at the Hawk Conservancy in Andover, UK. Katy’s aim through her artwork is to highlight the critical importance and beauty of the African vulture.
Katy Rundle is a British contemporary textile artist. Her business was founded in 2017 and she creates her pieces from a studio in Hampshire, UK. Katy is best known for her vibrant embroidered textile collages. An exhibitor at Talos Art Galley and at art fairs, Katy is in demand as a creator of bespoke, original commissions and her work is collected on both sides of the Atlantic. Shortlisted for the Women United Art Prize in 2022, Katy was also selected to compete in Sky Arts ‘Landscape Artist of the Year’ in 2018.
Lieze Meyer observes that we tend to be more aware of the big mammals that are facing extinction. With this oil painting on canvas Lieze wanted to highlight a lesser recognised member on the Critically Endangered List, the White Headed Vulture. Her dramatic composition contrasts the small vulture against the larger non-endangered marabou stork as the vulture fights for it’s rights, and Lieze hopes her painting will help to highlight it’s endangered status.
Lieze Meyer has a BA graphic design degree but has pursued painting in oils for the past 15 years. Lieze aims to capture a fleeting moment whilst telling a story through her art. Shape, movement and mood are all elements which drive her to create from her studio in the wilderness in Zambia where she currently lives. By creating these wildlife images, she strives to make her audience aware of the beauty hidden within the more unknown and not so often painted creatures of this planet.
The synergy of cultural and environmental narratives inspired Nickolaas Willems to create this large artwork. It represents the resilience and endurance of a Jewish family that found refuge within this tree during WW2. Nickolaas uses wood and fire (representing life and destruction) to burn and scrape his art pieces, using wooden panels as his canvas; heat and sandpaper as a brush of paint. This is part of a 20-tree series project, highlighting trees worldwide with their unique story and relevance.
Nickolaas Willems (1989) is a double educated Dutch artist. Working in a unique manner, within the representational field, Nickolaas uses the primitive medium of wood and fire to burn and scrape his art pieces into reality. A technique in which large wooden panels serve as his canvas, he utilises heat and sandpaper as paint. This time-intensive process requires extraordinary patience and focus by working with the natural lines of each wooden panel to create pieces that preserve the natural beauty of the material. Willems’ work explores themes of transience and time, reminding us of the impermanence of life while honouring the enduring beauty of the environment.
Nathalie Daigle observes that skin is a sense organ, and as such is both a separator and a connector between self and others. In her abstract painting ‘Openness’, Nathalie depicts the elephant skin stretched out in a limitless sky, feeling this stands as an ‘openness’ to awaken our senses to life on earth and its interconnectedness.
Biology studies and scenic art emerged as Nathalie Daigle’s first interests, these two fields stemming from her deep love of nature and art. Creating has evolved into an expression of Nathalie’s inner connection to nature, in which she expresses life as being our common core. With close-ups of elephant skins that tell stories about how tightly connected our life cycles are, she demonstrates her exceptional sensitivity. As a wildlife lover and environmental artist, Nathalie’s artwork clearly asserts that the need for connection with the wild is part of human nature. She feels that to encounter the wild has an impact on mankind, that impact being humility.
Sarah Lake has created the shoebill stork ‘Abou’ by carefully hand cutting her from 8 sheets of A3 hammered paper. Sarah chose her illustration of a shoebill stork as she loves how different and prehistoric they look.
Sarah Lake is a self taught paper artist living in Kent. With a love of wildlife, most of her work is based on that theme. Every piece starts off with a photograph which is normally taken by Sarah, which she will then separate into layers. The more layers there are the more detail there will be in the final artwork. Each layer is then cut by hand using a scalpel. Sarah’s aim with each piece of her work is that it is indistinguishable at a distance from a regular picture, and only when seen up close does the viewer discover individual layers of paper.
Rhythm Ghai feels God has created an array of mesmerizing marine life and that it is the responsibility of mankind to conserve their natural habitat. Through her highly detailed and intricate drawing, Rhythm has aimed to create awareness and to help save these amazing sea creatures from becoming extinct.
Rhythm Ghai is a self taught artist from India. Rhythm works with a flair to create artworks which highlight the problems of global warming and animal extinction. She likes to work in black and white and in a variety of mediums. Taking part in a number of national and international exhibitions, Rhythm is keen to keep developing her creative skills. She believes that as an artist she is a teller of stories and that this is her creative journey.
Humans have long destroyed the homes of orangutans for their gain. In Ophelia Redpath’s oil painting we see an orangutan, faced with a chainsaw and leaving it well alone. Ophelia illustrates that never in a million years would the thought occur to an orangutan to topple a forest and its inhabitants.
Ophelia Redpath has followed a career as a painter since 1986. The subject and style of her work has evolved from abstract, experimental beginnings, to mixed media celebrations of humanity, now focusing entirely on questioning the broken links between human civilisation and the natural world. Ophelia’s current oil paintings express a mix of grief, optimism and humour, with an attempt to visualise how these links can be recognised and reinvigorated. Her book ‘The Lemur’s Tale’ was nominated for the 2014 Kate Greenaway Medal, and Ophelia won Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year in 2021.
This creative sculpture by Camila Echavarria depicts a guayacan tree and huge ceibas surrounded by native birds. From whichever side the piece is viewed there are barcodes to be seen that transform into forest. Inspired by the works of Garcia Marquez, Camilla hopes to inspire appreciation of nature with a reminder to cherish the trees, birds and nature.
Camila Echavarria is a Colombian artist who draws inspiration from her profound connection to the vibrant jungles and diverse ecosystems of her native country. With a background in product design engineering, Camila explores materials and perspectives that bring art to life. Her works reflect the rich flora and fauna of Colombia, with a focus on plants, birds, and their interplay. Through merging opposing concepts, Camila creates nature-rooted art characterised by simplified shapes, repetitive patterns and Fibonacci principles. Her compositions are primarily black and white, punctuated by bursts of the tropical colours that attract birds. Celebrating resilience, Camila’s art transcends boundaries, capturing the essence of the Tropic and its cultural heritage.
Tamara Pokorny recalls how getting close to a ghost crab takes patience (and indeed sometimes a wet belly). However, her patience and sogginess paid off and she loves the way the evening sun made this little ghost crab’s shadow larger than life. Tamara considers her scratchboard and ink rendering to be an analogy reminding her about how small things can loom large, for both good or ill.
From iconic species to lesser known or even disliked ones, scratchboard artist Tamara Pokorny depicts animals in extraordinary detail, showcasing the beauty of the creatures that share the world with mankind. Tamara is inspired by the intricacies of a subject you can only see when looking closely, the way the sum of all the small things amount to, and shapes, the whole. Tamara observes that as we often don’t take time to look at detail, she invites the viewer to look a little closer and immerse themselves in a moment in time.
‘The Journey’ by Karen Laurence-Rowe, is a tribute to the dead and dying giraffe suffering the terrible drought in North Kenya. Whilst Karen’s painting, with its striking verdigris palette, looks to be abstract, on closer inspection there are various references to giraffe. Through this painting Karen sadly observes climate change is causing terrible suffering – and that wildlife will be the first to die.
A past winner of Wildlife Artist of the Year, Karen Laurence-Rowe has, for many years, used her art to raise funds for conservation, raising over £100,000 for conservation projects close to her heart throughout her career. Karen is a self-taught artist, mainly working in oil and watercolour to develop her unique style which has become much sought after by her art collectors. Karen has lived in Africa all her life and has watched her subjects dwindle exponentially as the human population grows. “It is a race against time to save the endangered species of the world but the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation is a good place to start!”
We are delighted to launch the 2023 online gallery, displaying all of the artwork that qualified for this year’s final. We invite you to peruse the finalist artworks, which are displayed below.
To Amber Tyldesley, the okapi is one of the most fascinating and beautiful animals on the planet. Threatened by illegal hunting and logging, it is thought that their population has halved over the last 20 years. In Amber’s sensitive painting she aims to capture the refined beauty and gentle nature of this elusive and endangered species.
Amber Tyldesley’s high-impact pieces celebrate the beauty of the natural world in striking detail. Working in acrylics, Amber builds her pieces in a series of layers to create a lively sense of depth, detail and luminosity. The interplay of light and colour play a key part in bringing a sense of life and individuality to every one of her subjects. Often incorporating high gloss resin, this allows Amber to achieve a heightened contrast and distinctive, contemporary finish to her work. Amber’s originals feature in private collections across the UK and internationally, including Europe, Canada, Australia and the USA.
Justin Mark’s carefully observed drawing ‘Coming of Age’ shows two young lions grown in confidence, body size, and overall maturity. His sensitively drawn piece portrays two lion brothers, quickly approaching the age in life where they will be exiled from their family pride to fend for themselves, in one of nature’s most pivotal ‘coming of age’ moments.
Justin Mark has always had an interest in wildlife, particularly African wildlife. In 2019 he travelled to Zambia in the hope of seeing lions in the wild, and South Luangwa National Park did not disappoint, providing him with many close encounters with his favourite species. He has explored a variety of mediums, however he feels most at home with graphite pencils, which allow him to capture the smallest details with the aim of portraying accurate to life depictions of his subjects. Justin has met his favourite and renowned wildlife artist, Robert Bateman, on two occasions and in his teenage years, Justin was selected as a winner in a National Robert Bateman Art Contest directed specifically at youth. More recently, he was selected as a finalist in the 2022 DSWF WAY competition and feels honoured to be selected once again in 2023. Justin will be travelling to Kenya’s Lake Nakuru National Park and the Maasai Mara for more inspiration this October.
Joey Kennedy’s dynamic composition in watercolour, coloured pencil and India ink demonstrates a insightful close-up of the life of a seagull as viewed through the lens of an eye.
Joey Kennedy is a young artist from Seattle, Washington USA where much of his time is spent outside watching and photographing birds. Joey works in many mediums including watercolour, textiles and pencils. Joey’s inspiration comes from observing the common birds around him, acknowledging and appreciating their behaviour.
Ze Ze Lai’s evocative sepia-toned watercolour painting illustrates how the Yellow River captivates man with stunning displays of nature’s magnificence. In her painting Ze Ze acknowledges how the river plays a crucial role in sustaining the wildlife that inhabits the surrounding area and provides essential sustenance and habitat for a wealth of wildlife including birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals, offering shelter from predators and becoming a sanctuary for endangered species.
Ze Ze Lai is an acclaimed watercolour artist from Hong Kong. She draws inspiration from nature, and her expertise is in painting animals and birds. Ze Ze adopts an impressive range of styles in her art practice. From painting soft and dream-like scenes of small birds in the forests, to her use bold dynamic strokes and granulating textures, she takes her viewers on a journey of imagining the peculiar lives and small moments of the little animals in nature. Ze Ze has received numerous awards for her paintings, her works have been widely exhibited around the world.
Cy Baker was named Overall Winner of Wildlife Artist of the Year 2022. With the prize money he travelled to Uganda to experience the wonderful work of the Uganda Conservation Foundation. Whilst there he went out early one morning with one of the rangers, Jimmy, for a day tracking a group of lions as they hunted. Cy’s wish with this drawing is to capture the way the pride of lions interact with each other and the way their prey interact with them.
Cy Baker lives in a time where most of the world is finally waking up to the environmental crisis mankind brought into being. He considers his job as an artist is to spread the message of how valuable, beautiful and fragile our planet is. He feels his part in this is to try to capture and communicate some of the raw, spiritual emotion felt when interacting with nature. Cy comments that he cannot capture the way these moments touch one’s soul in words, photographs or music, so he does so in the only way he knows, through his artwork.
Stephanie Cunningham’s elegant sculpture was created response to the artist’s despair at witnessing these majestic and super skilful birds floundering and dying on Cornish beaches from Avian flu last summer. It is Stephanie’s hope that this piece can represent the spirit of so many of our beautiful sea birds who have suffered and continue to do so.
Stephanie Cunningham’s work is rooted in the natural world and is an expression of her deep love and respect for all animals and birds. The ceramic forms she creates are stylised to emphasise power, elegance and grace. Stephanie has a love of wild places, especially Scotland where she grew up, and of West Cornwall where she now lives and works, walking the coast paths and woodlands observing the wildlife she finds. Stephanie is self-taught, having previously worked in theatre. It was on moving to Cornwall in 1998 that she discovered a love of working in clay.
To express the fight for survival, Nicolas Planson’s painting aspires to expose the tragic outburst of the elements which is a consequence of our dreadful anthropocene. He wonders if the great kudu, as well as so many other beautiful but forgotten creatures, will manage to save themselves from the burning smoke of our world on fire?
Nicolas Planson is a self taught French artist who lives in Britain. His work is inspired by his belief that mankind is an integral part of nature and he is convinced that if we were to turn our back on the natural world this would have disastrous consequences. Conscious of the ecological debt that us humans owe, Nicolas has used his art platform for artivist engagement, hoping to stimulate a response to respect and protect the animal world we live in. His dynamic work elevates his subjects, highlighting their magnificence as well as their weakness, and it is his hope that by doing so mankind will start to reverse the anthropocene.
This beautiful Mexican Wolf is the most endangered subspecies in the world. In his hyper-realistic monochrome drawing Alex Fleming was captivated by such a glorious image from which to work, and his challenge was in rendering the dissipated light, and the sleek fur of the wolf.
Alex Fleming creates realistic art because he enjoys the challenge of it, and finds it very fulfilling to succeed in doing a subject justice as it stands. Alex might alter the odd thing in an artistic rendition, but it is always subtle, and rare. The real, natural world is immensely interesting to him already, so he leaves imagined alternatives to those more appreciative of them. Nature covers a gamut of size, colour, personality and beauty which Alex feels should be worthy of anyone’s attention. It is also constantly changing, largely for the worse, so he choses to donate a portion of all of his wildlife sales to animal charities.
This sculpture by Christy Symington is two-sided, to be viewed in the round and from both sides, with the scrolls hanging supported between two light wood lengths. With this piece Christy wanted to symbolise the corridors of land that link fragmented pockets of tiger populations and their prey so they can breed and feed across the Himalayan countries, between reserves in India, and in other tiger countries in the fight against extinction.
Sculptor Christy Symington lives in London. Across the body of her work she responds to imbalances – historical under-representation, socio-cultural/socio-political disparities and human versus nature tensions. Christy studied in Paris, New York Studio School with exchange to the Slade, has an MA from UAL London and a PGCE degree. Her sculptures are in Permanent Collections of UK Parliament, Royal Museums Greenwich and the International Slavery Museum. She is a Member of the Royal Society of Sculptors. Solo exhibitions include Stephen Lawrence Centre Gallery London, ‘Avril/Symington’ Marist College, NY, Angel Orensanz Foundation NYC and over a hundred group exhibitions – Royal Scottish, Cambrian and West of England.
Nicola Gillyon observes that orangutan share roughly 97% of our DNA, yet are facing extinction through deforestation, excessive logging and mining by humans. In her insightful drawing ‘Evanescing’, Nicola wanted to highlight their disappearance by simply allowing the face to fade to nothing, emphasising her thoughts that this is all that will be left of the orangutan if mankind continue on this path.
Nicola Gillyon is a wildlife artist who works predominantly in pencils. This choice of medium allows Nicola to build up multiple layers of tiny details to achieve a realistic appearance with a more contemporary look. Having drawn since childhood and with a love of animals, Nicola resurrected her drawing skills a few years ago. With a desire to challenge herself with her drawings, Nicola is venturing into creating conservation work, recognising that her work can help to raise awareness and inform others of the plight the natural world is facing, something that she hopes will eventually become her full workload.
Inspiration for this painting by Paul Burgess came from the subtle beauty of nature in autumn and the atmospheres it creates. Paul observes how he loves the peaceful calm of this woodland and the mystery of its grey autumn veil, liking the idea that the trees were whispering to each other whilst dancing nature’s samba.
Paul Burgess is a contemporary landscape artist whose unique semi-abstract style has become hugely popular with art lovers and collectors worldwide. The main inspiration for his work comes from the Wye Valley and surrounding area where he has lived and worked for most of his life. There is also a deeply personal aspect to his paintings which explores his interest in how all things in the natural world are inextricably connected.
Inspired by her entanglement and connection with nature, Tilia Holmes’ pyrography piece ‘Entwined’ encourages people to get lost in the layers of detail and diverse colours. Using wood as her canvas, the illustration is burnt in then embellished with oil paints, creating a window into the woodland using a natural resource.
Tilia Holmes is a UK based artist and has exhibited her artwork across the country. She is represented by Dansel Gallery, which specialises in quality contemporary woodwork. Creating a window into forests and woodlands, Tilia celebrates the importance of trees and highlights their beauty by capturing the play of dappled light on leaves and branches using the ancient art form of pyrography. Using natural edged, sustainably sourced timber as a canvas, her process starts with an illustration burnt onto wood, where she creates tones and marks using different levels of heat, and then brings the piece alive with oil paint.
The inspiration for Julie Brunn’s evocative and calm painting ‘Dawn’ was the early morning sunrise before the heat burns, when wild dogs are starting to become active. Her painting shows the sun’s rays starting to skim the horizon, reflecting splashes of amber where day replaces night, the wild dog rising for the day, a long stretch, breathing in deeply and curling his long pink tongue.
Award winning animal artist Julie Brunn achieved a fine art degree from Birmingham School of Art in 2000, after which she pursued a career as an animal keeper working mostly with primates. Starting a family gave Julie the chance to rediscover her painting talents. Combining this with her love for animals and wildlife, Julie is able to capture the characters and personalities of her subjects in her unique ethereal style.
Zoe Burr observes that with zebra populations declining, teamed with increasing urbanisation, her striking composition ‘Zebra Crossing’ may one day be the only memory of we have of zebras. A delicately rendered coloured pencil drawing on hot pressed watercolour paper, Zoe’s drawing is a play on the urban crossings named after the stunning zebra.
Zoe Burr is a coloured pencil artist based in Bristol, UK. She draws a wide range of animals in a modern, realistic style, aiming to capture the subject’s true form and personality.
Henry McAlpine’s graphic painting explores the collision between the natural world and the built environment. With its strong and brooding tonal palette, Henry’s painting brings together animals and humans, portraying them to be part of the same complex puzzle.
Henry McAlpine (b.1998) is a painter originally from Northumberland. Having been surrounded by the landscape during his upbringing, he has always been fascinated by the richness of the natural world in relation to his family heritage; rooted in construction. These varied environments merging together have inspired his practice over the last few years; aiming to balance the architectural motifs that influence his style with animalistic subjects. Henry studied Fine Art at the University of Leeds and learnt traditional drawing and painting techniques shortly after. Since then, he has found inspiration through his travels to Africa and South-East Asia.
Peidi Wang’s compact sculpture depicts a little fruit bat sneakily munching on a hanging banana. Peidi observes that even though caught in the act at it’s feast, the bat manages to retain a dignified presence. Peidi’s sculpture is hand-built in cone porcelain with engobe glaze and epoxy.
Peidi Wang is an emerging artist who focuses on detailed wildlife sculptures, balancing realism with a dash of artistic interpretation. Her use of porcelain gently reflects nature’s fragility and resonates with the delicate equilibrium of ecosystems. Each piece imbues its subject with unique charm and personality through subtle expressions. Her vision is to cultivate a personal bond between the viewer and the creature, placing emphasis on the individuality of each subject. This approach invites viewers to reflect on their personal interactions with wildlife, encouraging a deeper understanding and respect. While aligning with broader conservation goals, Peidi’s artistic perspective celebrates the individual journey of each creature within our shared natural world.
Inspired by their wonderful colours, Jane intended with her delicately rendered watercolour painting to depict African wild dogs with their extraordinary coat markings, but at the same time show their gentler side. Jane feels that together and united we can accomplish much in the protection of these fascinating animals.
Jane is a self-taught watercolour artist living in the South Downs National Park with her husband and her dogs. Her love of nature led her through painting landscapes with her father, into floristry, several years as a professional mountain bike racer and then onto her specialisation as an animal artist, allowing her to combine all her favourite things! Now running a successful commission-based studio focused on her pet and animal portraits, she also teaches her love of watercolour both in person and online and continues to strive to keep her work loose, light and with a sense of magic.
In her painting ‘Love. Light. Wren.’ Priya Gore pays tribute to the abstract quality of change and the abstract illusion of the passage of time. She feels that the wrens speak of changes of season and the acceptance of changes in life with an open heart and open arms. The purple capped wren is one of the most illusive North Australian bird species.
Priya Gore observes how the Australian rainforests offer the abundance of natural wonder and how bush walks and coastal hikes replace the emptiness of the soul with a long-lasting creative energy. Priya’s life revolves around the exploration of nature’s intricacies that are often hidden in the obvious. Being in nature amongst the beautiful birds, animals and trees of the rainforest and the ocean has had a profound effect on the artist’s mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing. Priya tries to convey her deep love and passion towards nature through her practice of painting which she believes is impossible to express in any other form.
Marie Antoniou’s vibrant and colourful painting of a Black Rhino is depicted through expressive, energised brushstrokes. Marie chose this energetic portrayal to highlight a contrast with the rhino’s firm and still stance.
Marie Antoniou is an artist and art tutor. Her love of animals and nature led her to study Scientific Illustration. After graduating she became a self-employed artist teaching art privately alongside developing her own art practice. Marie has exhibited extensively since 2004 in a variety of venues, including Geedon Galleries, Essex and the Mall Galleries, London. Her paintings are an impressionistic interpretation conveying traditional subjects in a more contemporary style. For Marie this is explored through expressive brushstrokes and bold colour, giving a slight abstract feel to the work. Her work has also been published in books and magazines and used as set dressing in TV and film. To date Marie has been a finalist at the prestigious David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the year exhibition every year between 2014-2021 and now in 2023.
The main objective for Jessica in this painting was to capture a moment between two beautiful souls, recognising that zebras are extremely sociable animals and will often remain with their family herd for the entirety of their life. Jessica also wanted to challenge herself by playing with a limited monochromatic palette.
Jessica Lennox is a wildlife artist based in British Colombia, Canada. She specialises in highly detailed coloured pencil drawings of her subjects and, more recently, the environment in which they reside. Jessica wants the viewer to be able to feel the fur and to read their thoughts when looking into her subject’s eyes.
Katerina Perry’s visit to a big cat sanctuary was where she fell in love with the cheetah, and it proved to be the inspiration in creating this piece. Sculpted in ceramic stoneware, fired, & coloured, it is Katerina’s hope that through her work she will help others to also fall in love with these vulnerable big cats.
Katerina Perry is a ceramic artist from the North West of England. Originally trained in graphics, Katerina’s work combines her love of wildlife with her love of clay. Each of her sculptures is carved in solid form which is then hollowed out, fired, coloured and then fired again.
Wildlife Artist of the Year
The DSWF’s People’s Choice Award received a record breaking 6,577 votes this year. After collating all the votes DSWF are delighted to share the top ten voted for artworks. We are delighted to announce the overall winner of People’s Choice Award goes to Amazonic Barcode Rainforest by Camila Echavarria.
‘Likwena’, a highly detailed drawing by James Hitchen, offers the viewer a late afternoon glimpse of a Nile crocodile submerging itself into dark waters during the summer rainfall season. James’ intention was to capture this species in monochromatic shades to provide sharp detail, at the same time awakening the response to a predator in the artist’s home river, the Zambezi.
James Hitchins is a self-taught artist born in Zimbabwe and raised in Zambia. As a wildlife conservationist with Victoria Falls and the Zambezi river on his doorstep, James’ inspiration comes from the quiet moments in the African outdoors. Using either graphite or white chalk to create monchromatic images, James demonstrates his great love for wildlife.
In his insightful painting Andy observes that with age comes the wisdom that hopefully helps us make more sense of the world around us. Andy feels that perhaps things that seemed important in our younger years are now issues that cause us little concern or worry. It is his sincere hope that we can all one day live in harmony.
Andy Caddick is a self taught realism artist who specialises in the portrayal of some the world’s most beautiful animals. He is also one of very few UK artists who specialise in airbrush photo-realism. Working from his studio at home in the West Midlands, Andy has achieved success across mainstream galleries in the UK.
Living in Africa allowed Capucine Minot to experience the strength and fragility of nature and wildlife all around her. In her monochrome drawing ‘Red Earth’, a viewpoint from space expresses the power of nature, with all it’s contrasts and extremes. Capucine feels that for local wildlife there are no boundaries, they live in a world only made of forest, mountains, rivers and waterfalls, as it should be.
Capucine Minot is a French artist who has lived in Cote D’Ivoire since 2017. In 2016, after five years working in luxury marketing, she decided to start over and dedicated her life to her art.
Elsa Olander feels the conservation of wildlife is important for a number of reasons, including the survival of a balanced and abundant ecosystem. The cheetah was a healthy species but they have been starved as humans encroach on their forest habitat to make products such as paper. In this illustration Elsa shows how we, as humans, are destroying our wildlife and planet.
Elsa Olander is a Kenyan born African American artist in her artistic experimental stage who uses mixed media to create her artwork. Elsa is currently studying for her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the Penny Stamps School of Art and Design in Michigan and creates art for enjoyment and fun – it’s her happy place. She does however realise that her strongest voice must be used to spread awareness for issues such as the negative effects of poaching, the water crisis and social inequality.
‘Ingwe’ in the language of Ndebele means leopard, one of Africa’s most endangered big cats, well known for their unpredictable character. An inspiration over the years for many designs, patterns and even famous songs such as ‘Ingwe Emabalabala’, the noble leopard is also the inspiration for Tichaoanan Ncube’s powerful painting ‘Vigilance’. Tich feels that the leopard depicted is warning intruders to stay well away! This piece is created using Oil and Acrylic paints on a box canvas (unframed).
Born in1986, Tich Ncube is a full time Zimbabwean wildlife and portrait artist. Following high school Tich pursued art as a career and was mentored by Sanele Dhlomo and the late Jimmy James Nkomo. Tich has sold his artwork both locally and internationally and many of his paintings have been collected by both art collectors and enthusiastic local tourists. Inspired by nature and Victoria Falls’ rich, world-class natural beauty, Tich feels that art has a distinct and subtle way of speaking to the soul, and when created carefully it provides a platform to communicate conservation messages without a struggle.
Camila Echavarria’s painting ‘Barcode Amazon Rainforest’ depicts two guayacan trees and huge ceibas surrounded by native birds, growing upwards from a barcode. Inspired by the works of Garcia Marquez, Camila hopes to inspire appreciation of nature with a reminder to cherish the trees, birds and other forms of nature. This piece is an Acrylic painting on a box canvas (unframed).
It was the innocence and expression shown in this Amur leopard cub that inspired Conor Smith create his highly detailed scratchboard piece ‘Big Yawn’. Conor felt that the expression of fatigue on the cub’s face was appropriate in showing the tiredness this cat will feel in the fight to live its life.
Conor Smith is a UK based artist who specialises in the medium of scratchboard. He uses sharp tools such as craft knives and tattoo needles to scratch away the top layer of indian ink, revealing the white clay board beneath. He strives to create interesting and photorealistic pieces that have strong contrast and dramatic lighting. Conor is a part-time artist, spending the majority of his time working as a paramedic for the NHS and studying for his Masters Degree in Advanced Clinical Practice.
Vote for your favourite Wildlife Artist of the Year 2026 artwork and help crown this year’s People’s Choice winner.
The winner will be announced after voting closes and shared on the DSWF website and social media channels.
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