About Sue Dickinson - Wildlife Art - Fine Art - African Wildlife Artists


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Sue Dickinson

[ artist bio ] [ influences ] [ books ] [ watercolour ] [ leopard hunting ] [ conservation ] [ music ]

Formal Art Education

Q. Tell us about your background and any training you may have had.

I didn’t study art at school. Everyone believed that no one could actually make a living as an artist.

When I left school I had no idea of a career path. I tried jobs like nursing, bookkeeping, and working as a photographer in the University of Witwatersrand’s Medical School.

There I met Colin Richards, who was a medical illustrator. He was studying B.A.Fine Art part-time at a correspondence university called UNISA (University of South Africa). I loved reading Colin’s History of Art assignments. He has an incredible intellect (and is now a Professor in the Division of Visual Arts in the Wits School of Arts, University of the Witswatersrand, Johannesburg, where he lectures in art criticism, studio practice and art theory). So it was all Colin’s fault!

I registered to study B.A. Fine Arts part-time at Unisa the following year, but I loved it so much that I enrolled at Wits full-time.

(right) Colin Richards
Veronica, Head of a Frightened Man
Two States (2002)
Inkjet Print on Archival Paper
Work in Progress.

Wildlife Art

Q. Why did you choose to paint wildlife subjects?

I used to live in the city, but I went to the Kruger National Park so often, it felt like home. I was enchanted by the bushveld from an early age - I wanted to be a game ranger.

I dislike most wildlife art - it can be dreadful. There's a stigma associated with wildlife art in South Africa. Often wildlife art is painted badly by people who have never seen the subject, not even in a zoo, and it shows in their paintings.

There is also some wonderful wildlife art though. (see Influences)

Some very special people (who now own many of my paintings) took me on holiday with them to a luxury lodge in Thornybush and while sitting in an open Landrover, watching two male lions from a few meters away, I thought – "Yes, I could live like this!"

Painting and my love for wildlife dovetailed.

Soon after this I got involved with Thulamela in the northern Kruger National Park. As I was sitting on

the massive roots of a baobab tree, painting the ancient enclosure, the decision to paint wildlife seemed the only logical thing to do - with a little help from some leopards.”

(See the Thulamela story here)

Part of Thulamela's reconstructed walls, as seen while sitting on another baobab tree's roots

… and so Sue’s enduring love affair with leopards began. Sue has probably painted more leopards than any other artist.

"I dislike most wildlife art"

South African Postage Stamps

See more about postage stamps here

Early South African History Stamps
Rock Engraving, McGregor (far left)
Khoekhoe Pot (middle),
Mapungubwe Gold (right)

First Wildlife Painting Efforts
White Rhino and Calf (right) and *Kudu Bull* c 1995 Watercolour 40 x 28 cm In 2002 Sue moved to the Lowveld, where she is only 60 km from the Kruger National Park. Her reputation as an award-winning artist keeps growing and growing.
Q. To help anyone starting out in wildlife art, can you give a few hints and tips or do’s and don’ts....	"...You can never look enough"

* excerpts from an article in Wildscape magazine


Sue Dickinson Create Your Badge [ contact ] Sue with a young lion with very sharp claws

The composition of Sue's paintings is critical; based upon the law of proportion known as the "Golden Mean" - an aesthetic principle used by the ancient Greeks. Sue's focus is the animal itself.

Her experience has taught her that "what you leave out is just as important as what you put in". Her stark, clean images concentrate exclusively on the animal and convey the wide-open spaces of Africa.

Sue's preferred painting medium is watercolour. This much under-rated medium is widely acknowledged by artists to be the most difficult. "There is no room for error with watercolour - once it is on the paper, it is almost impossible to remove - so I work carefully and accurately. I'm not attempting to reproduce reality, so I want to work fairly loosely too. It is important for the viewer to be able to see the mark of the artist, the journey I have taken on the page. I don't want a slick look."

Gallery

Everard Read Gallery
+27 (0)13 745-7854
6 Jellicoe Avenue • Rosebank • Johannesburg • 2196 • South Africa
Email: gallery@everard.co.za
www.everardread.co.za
Private Bag 5 • Parklands • 2121 • South Africa

Collections

Ivory Lodge
Royal Malewane Lodge
Singita and Lebombo Lodges
Anglogold
Gold Fields of South Africa
IFM International
First National Bank
Novartis Pharmaceuticals
HRH Queen Elizabeth II
Nelson Mandela

Exhibitions

Wildlife Artist of the Year Exhibition (shortlisted), Mall Galleries, London, 2010
From Africa to the Amazon Wildlife Exhibition and Sale, Air Gallery, London, 2003
South-eastern Wildlife Art Exposition, Charleston, USA, 2002, 2003
Florida Wildlife Art Exposition, Sarasota, USA, 2003
Western Visions, National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA
Wildlife Art Gallery, Orlando, USA, 2003
Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, SA
Gallery on the Square, Sandton, SA, 2000
Christies Wildlife Art Auction, London
African Window Museum, Pretoria, SA, 1998
Norscot Manor Gallery, Sandton, SA, several exhibitions