Featured Big Cat Artist – Robbie Graham

I received an email from an incredibly talented artist Robbie Graham a few days ago, so I am privileged and honored that he would like to show some of his art on my site!  Please take some time to look at these fabulous big cat art works by Robbie. You will see that he truly has a big heart for big cats in the incredible detail and spirit that spring from his images as you are viewing them. Robbie is a self taught artist. A ‘Perfectionist’ that works in a realistic style, paying meticulous attention to the tiniest of details and has always been prepared to go that step further with his paintings. This requires an extremely disciplined approach, beyond what most artists would be prepared to do. Through his paintings, he reminds the viewer of the beauty and spirit of wildlife and also, the fragile nature we live in. I am thankful that Robbie is not only an extremely talented artist, but that he is also actively involved in the preservation of big cats. I learned that Robbie is a signature member of the Artist for Conservation, a group of international nature artists worldwide. This membership is limited to 500 artists worldwide and new members are admitted by invitation only, through a juried process and only as placements become available. Robbie was selected by juried invitation to exhibit his art at the prestigious National Exhibition of Wildlife Art, 2011.

But that’s not all! I learned that Robbie works with a number of conservation programs including Wild Cats World, which is based in South Africa. Wild Cats World is a nature reserve with a mission to create awareness of the wild cats’ current dispiriting situation, while at the same time providing a natural habitat, saving and relocating wild cats from other surrounding farms which gives these cats a life and breeding opportunity in a natural habitat. Robbie also contributes work to the Wildlife Heritage Foundation, a UK based charity that ensure that the big cat species of the world are protected from extinction.

Adding to his list of achievements, Robbie was selected as a featured artist for Daler Rowney and has been recently featured in Wildscape magazine. I could say so much more about Robbie, but I will stop now and let you view his artwork which speaks for itself and better than I can! Below the art are links to where you can discover more about Robbie and his big cat art so please check them out!

Links you should visit:

http://www.robbiegrahamart.com/

http://www.natureartists.com/

http://www.wildcatsworld.nl/

http://www.wildscapemag.co.uk/

Magazine Article Featuring Robbie Graham

I also want to point out something that Robbie shares a concern over.  Robbie’s latest painting ‘The Sentinel’ is a work intended to highlight that Africa’s wild lion population has dropped from 450,000 to as few as 20,000 in the last 50 years, mainly due to habitat destruction, trophy hunting   (this really makes me angry!!!!) and retaliatory killings. Tourists pay upwards of $22,000 to shoot a male lion and usually select the dominant males. This has a huge impact on other lions, sparking battles for dominance in the pride. The new male in charge will often kill the offspring of his former rival so when just one male is shot, they are signing a death warrant for 20-30 lions in a pride!  The greatest threat to these wonderful big cats is humans and we need to all play our part to stopping it!

Thank you Robbie for caring about these wild cats and taking action to actively make a difference with your art work!! I really liked how you said “In my opinion, wildlife artists are ambassadors of nature. They create images that remind the viewer of the awesome beauty surrounding us and sometimes the fragility of their future.” Very well put! Keep on painting big cats Robbie! Not only do we get to enjoy your splendid paintings, but the big cats are benefiting as well from your work!