Big name in wildlife art coming to town

Local art students are busy prepping their canvases for a special visitor.

Internationally-renowned wildlife painter Guy Combes is coming to the city to teach a now sold-out workshop on his unique techniques and chat with the public about his passions.

The visit is the result of an accidental meeting. Combes was giving a demonstration with several other artists at an art fair in Wyoming and one of the attendees was one of this city’s own prominent art figures: Laura Watmough, artist and educator at Hidden Talent Fine Art Studios in Campbell Business Park.

“This developed into a great interaction with the audience and numerous invitations to be an instructor instead of merely a demonstrator,” Combes explained. “It is something I feel very confident and natural doing.”

This is only third major workshop that he has signed up to conduct. Considering the response that he has gotten, he states, he’s sure that this will just be the tip of the iceberg. He intends to commit to one workshop in Canada and one in the United States every year.

The Kenya-born artist is only in his early 40s but even he admits that he was born into painting. It’s all thanks to his late father, Simon Combes, who was considered by many to be the forerunner of contemporary wildlife realists, an African version of Robert Bateman in a way.

Simon had just embarked on his own highly successful career as a wildlife artist shortly before Guy’s birth.

“My art background goes right back to the beginning. By the time I went to school I was already drawing pretty capably, which allowed me a confident head start and propelled me towards lofty goals including a scholarship and later, the foundation for a fine art degree.”

He added that he found the curriculum of formal art schools to be sorely lacking and that he learned more from his father than anyone else. Simon’s death left Guy with the legacy of his name and his father’s talent, and with the drive to make a name for himself.

“I always wanted to paint wildlife, and grew up learning and sharing his passion, so after he passed away it was a natural progression for me to focus on that genre. I learned the basics from my dad, but my approach is very much different than his now, and that is as a result of experimentation and external influences. I find it important to stress to students that they will benefit enormously from a workshop environment, but that they should not sacrifice what they are already comfortable with, especially if it works.”

Combes recently completed his five-year artist residency at the Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum in New Jersey. At the same time as drumming up an impressive curriculum vitae of work and work experience, he also found it important to protect the subjects of so many of his paintings. That’s why he focuses on conservation as much as on brush strokes. He takes time to lecture, primarily at zoos and universities, on the subject of nature conservation. He also regularly revisits his homeland to lead expeditions of artists and conservation biology students.

He also campaigns for a number of causes, including the Soysambu Conservancy.

“He’s a very busy guy,” explained Watmough, the artist who arranged for Combes’ St. Albert visit.

“The workshop was sold out in basically 10 minutes. People lined up outside in the wintertime to sign up. Guy is perhaps the most up-and-coming modern master. We’ve never had a guest artist of this calibre come.”

Those without tickets still have a chance to see the painter in person, as he’s agreed to a public presentation the night before the workshop starts.

“He’s very approachable, much more friendly than I expected from an international figure,” Watmough said. “Very personable, wonderful stories, interesting life!”