Pip McGarry, international wildlife artist, recently captivated Year 10 Art Students with his drawing skills. As he discussed his work, drawing mediums and his travels, a charcoal drawing of an elephant was gradually being created in front of us . He answered numerous questions from students about the wild animals he has encountered; these being the inspiration for his work. As the slide show progressed we were transported into deepest Africa.Heathrow to Johannesburg – the Okavango Delta – Zambia – the Zambezi river – Botswana – Chobe – the Victoria Falls – a geographical delight. As we viewed his photographs of many wild animals he told us about his experiences of camping in the desert areas and his very close encounters with the dangers of lions close to the tent – elephants and their enormous size , giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, impala, steenbok and many colourful birds.
Pip made us realize that his is a special art form due to his love of and respect for the wildlife of these regions. He also drew our awareness to the other professional artists who focus on landscape, portrait or abstract art.
More can be seen about his art work at www.pipmcgarry.com
“Pip is one of Europe’s leading wildlife artists with an international reputation for his oil paintings of big cats and African game. He is the ‘Artist in Residence’ at Marwell Zoological Park in Hampshire and founder and Chairman of the Marwell International Wildlife Art Society, currently the largest wildlife art society in Europe. His original paintings have been sold at Christies and Sotheby’s wildlife art auctions and over thirty limited editions have been published from his paintings in the last six years by major UK fine art publishers. He has travelled extensively, having lived in both the Far East and Central America. For several years he has been organising and leading camping safaris for wildlife artists and photographers to the remote game reserves of Northern Botswana. In 2004, Pip devised and was the subject of a seven part painting series on Meridian television called “A Brush With The Wild”. “
