Biography

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I am a wildlife artist, specifically focused on "endangered species and their habitats", who incorporates Fine Arts and Natural Sciences. My aim is to educate people, through paintings and applied knowledge and the complex interrelationships that humans and wildlife need in order to coexist.

I believe that my work is the perfect instrument by which I can show the ever changing, elusive, and dynamic qualities of nature. I also believe that nature serves as a basic resource for both form and overall appearance, which influences both the Fine Arts and the Natural Sciences. As a species, we humans have a remarkable capacity to learn from other species, and our sense of purpose should stem from an appreciation of what we, as individuals, can understand. Hence, my work is approached mainly from an "artist’s viewpoint" who has been informed by science through research, rather than a scientist’s viewpoint. I aim to paint, and to educate people of the critical aspects of the complex interrelationships that human impact has on our ecosystems.

My aspiration is also to help "youths and those at risk", by promoting new and positive experiences in which an individual can gain self esteem as they explore and connect with their surroundings. I believe that we are in the age of environmental awareness and there has been much concern of man’s impact on what was once abundant wildlife. Many species have evolved to fit very narrowed and specific niches, and when that niche becomes too narrow, the chances of survival for that species of animal becomes limited. When any one species becomes "extinct", the world becomes less safe, and we are the poorer.

Sadly, the once bountiful beasts now treading on the precipice of extinction may someday only survive on the canvases of artists, and therefore, I feel compelled to help the ones that are left, and to make mankind aware of the few left in our midst.

Jeanelle Coutelle