Robyn Clarke: Australian Wildlife Artist
Robyn Clarke’s intricate wildlife illustrations are a love letter to Australia’s diverse fauna, blending biological precision with emotional depth to capture the essence of her subjects. Working primarily in coloured pencils, she creates detailed portraits that not only showcase the physical beauty of animals but also their behaviors and fragile connections to their environments.
A Lifelong Passion for Wildlife
Robyn’s passion for animals took root in childhood, nurtured by holidays spent wandering her uncle’s dairy and beef farms in rural Australia. As a teenager and into her thirties, she honed her skills in animal and human portraiture while studying Horticulture and Animal Technology—fields that deepened her understanding of biology and behavior, which now informs every piece she creates. It wasn’t until adulthood that Robyn combined these interests, focusing her artistic lens on Australia’s wildlife. Largely self-taught, she received formative training in oil painting at eighteen from a wildlife artist, sparking a lifelong journey of experimentation with mediums like watercolours, acrylics, and pyrography.
Her style has evolved through patient observation on her 20-acre property, where she watches local wildlife interact with each other and their surroundings. Recently, Robyn has begun placing her subjects in specific plants and environments that suit them, adding a new layer of context to her work while keeping the animal as her primary focus.
From Vision to Reality
Robyn’s creative process is as meticulous as her subjects. She begins with her extensive library of personal wildlife photographs—a passion born from her love of photography. Drawn to species she hasn’t yet captured or those with striking colours, she lets ideas percolate for months, often using what she calls an “old-fashioned concept of Photoshop”—designing compositions in her mind through mental cutting and pasting before sketching on paper. Starting with a light sketch, she builds layers of colour from light to dark, a process that takes 4-8 hours of drawing time but can span up to six months from conception to completion as she perfects every detail.
A Record of Fragile Beauty
For Robyn, art is a way to document Australia’s precious wildlife amid growing human impact. “I like to make a record of the animals we have now,” she says, “because we as humans are making a lot of impact on the world, and in the future, many of these species may be lost.” An environmentalist at heart, she’s passionate about teaching others about nature’s interconnections, though she currently focuses on honing her skills with plans to engage more directly with conservation causes in the future. Her work is inspired by wildlife artists like Paul Margocsy, James Hough, Belinda Kurczok, and Greg Oakley, but Robyn follows her own path, prioritizing biological accuracy and emotional resonance in every piece.
Life Among the Wild
When not creating, Robyn shares her property with a menagerie of animals—a horse, a llama, three sheep, a dog, two cats, and three chickens—while tending gardens that provide food for local wildlife (and occasionally herself). Her land is a living canvas for observation: she’s watched New Holland Honeyeaters jostle in the birdbath, captured a Boobook Owl family braving a 40-degree day, and smiled as blue tongue lizards munched strawberries in her patch. These encounters fuel her art, as does time spent with family, reading, and learning more about her subjects.
One of her proudest creations is a fruit bat drawing from last year. “Every now and again, you step back from your work and say, ‘Wow, I did that,’” she reflects, cherishing the piece as a milestone in her artistic journey.
Celebrating Australia’s Wildlife Through Art
Robyn’s work has graced numerous exhibitions, including Heathcote Winery (upcoming in April 2025), Strathfieldsaye Vet Clinic (October to December 2025), and The Drying Shed in Castlemaine. She’s a regular at regional art shows like the Bendigo Rotary Art Show, Pyramid Hill Art Show, Harcourt Art Show, St Pauls Art Show Bendigo, Strathfieldsaye Primary School Art Show, and Bendigo Open Studios, where she collaborated with artists Kim Lowe and Laura Hardy—a project she holds dear. Her talent has earned her the Bird and Animal Section award at the Pyramid Hill Art Show and the People’s Choice Award at the Strathfieldsaye Primary Art Show.
Looking ahead, Robyn dreams of traveling Australia, drawing its diverse wildlife and selling prints of her work, all while continuing to learn and explore her craft. Through her art, she invites viewers to see the beauty and fragility of Australia’s natural heritage, hoping to inspire a deeper connection to the wild world she so vividly captures.