Updated 9th Feb 2012
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Animal
Spirit Art
Finalist in the
BBC Wildlife Artist
of the Year 2011 competition
Wildlife and animal artist Georgina Gibbons
The artist - Georgina Gibbons
Georgina loved art from an early age and it was always her favourite subject at school. At 17 her cubist style interpretation of an angel jazz band was chosen as the Christmas decoration in the large school assembly hall.
She went on to take a degree in graphic design at the Central School of Art (now
Central St Martin’s) in London, where she taught herself how to create lifelike illustrations
using coloured pencils. At that time, however, she most enjoyed abstract painting
in acrylics. A “photo-realistic” portrait of Nancy Mitford exhibited in her final
show, created in coloured pencil, was acclaimed as the best of that year, including
the fine art students, but she was told by her tutors that there was no call for
that type of work and left art college feeling very dispirited.
Having always been an animal lover, it was her own dog that finally inspired her to take up art again and in 1991 she created a portrait of her in coloured pencils. In 1998 she tried pastels, fell in love with the medium and discovered her true passion for drawing animals.
She painted several animal portraits for family and friends over the years, while working full time in graphic design and marketing. In 2009 Georgina decided to actively seek commissions, created a website and attended dog shows and county shows promoting and demonstrating her work. Such has been her success that in 2010 she gave up the “day job” and is now a full time artist.
As well as continuing with pet portrait commissions, which she loves doing, she is now exploring the creative opportunity that wildlife art presents, seeking to bring out the unique character of each animal. A recent safari trip to the Maasai Mara in Kenya has given her further inspiration.
Nowadays Georgina works in high quality pastels which offer the perfect combination of colour intensity and softness of finish. She is a member of the Society of Feline Artists, Canine Art Guild, The Wildlife Artists Society International, and the Marwell International Wildlife Art Society, as well as local art groups.
She exhibits at MIWAS’s Annual Exhibition of Wildlife Art, at Marwell Wildlife Park
in Hampshire - the largest exhibition of wildlife art in the world. Click here for
a list of exhibitions and events where her work will be shown in 2011.
