About three years ago I first took the Animal Drawing class at the American Museum of Natural History taught by Stephen Quinn. The course has run twice a year, spring and fall, for ages now. I loved it so much that I just kept taking it again, season after season. After overlapping for about three sessions with Mr Quinn, he retired and was replaced by the equally inspiring Patricia Wynne. It is a very zen-like experience to be in the quiet diorama halls after hours, drawing the animals that (being stuffed) conveniently stand still for you. And yet, unlike drawing from a photograph, they are there in 3D with all their shadows and depth.

Seeing another student using artists’ markers one week to make such a bright and vibrant drawing, I decided to purchase some of my own and give them a try. My favorite colors are shades of peach and shades of purple, so those were the colors I originally bought. Purple for the shadows, peach for the light. Every time I went back to the art store to treat myself to a couple new markers I couldn’t bring myself to branch out from the gorgeous  peach and purple spectrum. Once in a while I’d venture a little outside my comfort zone and buy a blue or a yellow marker and the drawings would never please me as much as when I stuck to peaches and purples. So those overly cool blues and overly bright yelllows  sit unused at the bottom of the bag. And now I know never to bother buying anything else.

But I’m not a complete one-trick pony!  I do occasionally do bird watercolor paintings – and those I do in realistic colors. They are always most successful when I stick to the birds I know well: the birds of my native South Africa where I was born and raised, and where I return twice a year: for a winter visit when many of the birds are dull and brown, and then for a summer visit when their colors are in their full splendor.

The artwork is for sale and commissions of your favorite animal (in peach and purple) are available upon request. Please fill in the contact form for enquiries. Unmounted animal drawings are $150. Mounted drawings are $200.

With thanks and love to my husband Geva Patz  who supports me in all I do and who gave me a lot of help with the website.