My Interest in Africa and Painting

I always was fascinated by African wildlife, for some reason.

As a preschooler, I practiced drawing the Lion and the Elephant.

I read every book, every magazine, saw every motion picture that had even a glimmer of African animals.

Painting has not been my career. I was a medical student, surgical resident, surgeon. I was a rugby player. There was a young family. There was not a lot of time to paint. I think there may have been a decade here where nothing was created.

In the past twenty years there has been more painting time. And more reading time. I have come to realize how great a scientist was Charles Darwin. A cascade of new and exciting knowledge has come in the last decades of my life. How to consume it all?

I also remember when books and magazines were illustrated. Every book had an author and an illustrator. Now it seems photography has taken this space. Fantastic photography, actually.   So, this is the challenge to the illustrator, artist. You need to have ideas and skill. Paint, photograph and write wilderness. Before it is gone.