Artist Profile - Lyn Ellison

After years as a potter and sculptor, Lyn was inspired by her friendship with a white backed magpie and her new home in a river valley in Queensland Australia. Here she found platypus in the river, possums on the roof and as she planted more and more trees. an increasing number of birds in the bush. She has been painting wildlife ever since.
After potting and sculpting she found the ability to place her subjects in a landscape and to be able to tell a story with her painting to be the liberating outlet she needed.
To begin with her subjects were those she was most familiar with, the ones she saw every day, living out their daily lives with all the patience, comedy and tragedy of wild creatures. With such a variety of wildlife close by she never thought she would ever need to look further a field. Magpies, kookaburras cockatoos, parrots, kingfishers, wrens, robins, honeyeaters were all within a stroll of her house and elusive platypus and wallabies needed only a little more patience to be seen. But of course like any all consuming interests she was soon ranging further a field to study rarer subjects like the Alberts Lyrebird found in the mountainous rainforest and the yellow footed rock wallaby found only in rocky areas in outback South Australia.
Somewhere along the way she also started a love affair with owls and has been seeking out owl subjects to paint when ever she can. Australia and South East Asia has some wonderful owls and Lyn is doing her best to paint them all!
In the last few years Lyn has travelled to Africa and has come back full of inspiration from the wildlife and the landscapes there.
It was on one of her trips in the Australian outback that Lyn rescued a young wallaroo joey and raised her successfully at home before releasing her back into the wild. She found this such a unique experience that she wrote and illustrated a book about Lucky the wallaroo called "Wild About You - Lucky Chance". She also wrote another book with fellow artist Pata Boyce "Wild About You - Friends With Feathers"
She has exhibited her work in solo and joint exhibitions at various Australian galleries as well as an exhibition and book launch for her 2 Wild About You books. Lyn has taken part in many wildlife exhibitions with fellow artists in Australia and overseas and received various awards.
Recently she had an exhibition with 2 fellow artists who had shared a trip to Namibia with her. This exhibition called "A Brush with Africa" was a great success and gave an insight into the beautiful, wild country of Namibia.
Her original paintings can be found in private and corporate collections in Australia, New Zealand, U.K. and U.S.A.

 
Support for Conservation:
Each year I support a conservation project and donate some of my earnings from prints and originals towards this project. For 2005-06 I supported THE AUSTRALIAN ORANGUTAN PROJECT and adopted an orangutan baby called Lidya from the OFI Care and Quarantine Centre in Pangkalan Bun Borneo, Indonesia.
In 2007 I supported AFRICAT -NAMIBIA and adopted a cheetah called Vincent.
In 2008 I supported BIRDS AUSTRALIA
In previous years I have supported THE GREAT APE PROJECT (Australia), BIRDS AUSTRALIA and WILDCARE - Australian Koala Hostpital.
 
Special Achievements:
 
  • 2009 - BEST INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE PAINTING 2009
    http://www.quasi.org
    QUEENSLAND WILDLIFE ARTISTS INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.
     
  • 2008 - Chosen for 2008 'The Art of Conservation Exhibition'
    http://www.natureartists.com
    Selected to be part of the first juried exhibition for AFC in 2008
     
  • 2002 - BEST OIL PAINTING AWARD
    http://www.quasi.org
    QUEENSLAND WILDLIFE ARTISTS ANUAL EXHIBITION 2002
     
  • 2001 - BEST MIXED MEDIA PAINTING
    http://www.quasi.org
    INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE EXHIBITION 2001
     
  • 1997 - BEST AUSTRALAIN NATIVE WILDLIFE AWARD
    http://www.vicnet.net.au/~wildlife
    Wildlife Art Society of Australasia's Annual Exhibition
     
Collections:

  • Lyn's original paintings are found in private and corporate collections in Australia and overseas.
     
Publications:
  • AUSTRALIAN ARTIST MAGAZINE (2006)
    http://www.artinthemaking.com
    LYN ELLISON - HOW DID YOU PAINT THIS? - Article discussing my inspiration, design strategy and working progress for my wildlife painting
    Author: TERRI DODD
    Published by: AUSTRALIAN ARTIST
     
  • WILD ABOUT YOU - LUCKY CHANCE (2000)
    AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR - Story of a wallaroo joey rescued from a road accident, raised in the authors home for 12 months and successfully released back into the wild. The book describes the joys and heart break of caring for a wild creature.
    Author: LYN ELLISON
    Published by: MAGPIE ART PRINTS
     
  • WILD ABOUT YOU - FRIENDS WITH FEATHERS (2000)
    CO-AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR - A collection of stories about colourful bird characters who were raised and cared for by the 2 authors in their homes before being relased back into the wild.
    Author: PETA BOYCE AND LYN ELLISON
    Published by: MAGPIE ART PRINTS
     
  • AUSTRALAIN ARTIST MAGAZINE (1999)
    http://www.australianartist.com.nf/~ausartis
    The 2 Deadly Sins of Wildlife Painting - 6 page article with pictures. - An article discussing some of the pitfalls of wildlife painting
    Author: TERRI DODD
    Published by: ELLADRENT PTY LTD
     
Organization Membership: