The artist has sadly passed away in 2020 but his artistic legacy will live on in his huge body of artwork and much loved limited editions, watercolours, pastels & other originals hanging in people's home. Please read the biography of the man below.
Joel was born in Dorking, Surrey in 1948. He lived there for the duration of his father's service in the Coldstream Guards & when his fa
The artist has sadly passed away in 2020 but his artistic legacy will live on in his huge body of artwork and much loved limited editions, watercolours, pastels & other originals hanging in people's home. Please read the biography of the man below.
Joel was born in Dorking, Surrey in 1948. He lived there for the duration of his father's service in the Coldstream Guards & when his father left the regiment the family moved to Leigh-on-Sea in Essex.
He has a love of wildlife that stems back from his school years, with entry & success in many competitions and an ongoing fascination with painting animals.
In 1972 Joel was accepted into the Southend College of Art, and after completing a three-year course, he immediately turned professional and embarked on a career doing what he loves best: observing the natural world and capturing its beauty in oils, pastels and watercolours.
As a freelance artist he has worked for a number of publishing houses. During this time a wide range of his painting was published as (open edition) prints for the art market, these were to include a series of wildlife studies, wildflowers, landscapes and Thames Barges.
Four limited editions were also published and several original works have been sold in Harrods, one in particular, a study of an Arabian stallion was sold within hours of being displayed.
Joel has donated many paintings to help fund-raising for charities, working with Virginia McKenna, The Born Free Foundation (www.bornfree.org.uk) the Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund (www.gorillafund.org & www.gorillas.org/home) and the Royal Society for Animal Protection of which he is an active member and tireless campaigner.
Kirk is kept busy with commissions from wildlife organisations from all over the world. Joel's long and illustrious career as an artist has taken him all over the world to study wildlife in its natural habitat. This research has given him a unique insight into the habits of his subjects allowing him to paint with both accuracy and affection.
Although he has experimented successfully with a variety of media, his first love is pastels as these give him the ability to work fast and effectively on location. The consequent velvety texture and subtlety of tones with shadows and highlights bring a unique realism to his portrayals and have earned him a wide and enthusiastic following.
The artist’s style and talent have created larger collector bases in: North America, Australia, Japan, Europe and the United Kingdom. Kirk’s watercolours are known for their exquisite fine detail, partly why his originals are so sort after.
He likes to paint portrays a broad spectrum of wildlife. As well as the glamorous 'Big Cats' and elephants, as well as wildlife closes to (British) home: birds, foxes, squirrels and deer all feature in their natural surroundings or as studies.
More recently, he set himself the task of painting as many breeds of dogs as are known in the United Kingdom and all were put into print.
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