He’s been diving in Sri Lanka with blue whales, painted penguins in the Antarctic and was just metres away from huge polar bears.
Now, artist Darren Rees has brought his wildlife work to Gloucester, with an exhibition that runs until Sunday, and a talk tonight at 7 at the Nature in Art Museum.
Rees, a former maths teacher for a short time, taught himself how to turn his passion for nature into paintings and drawings.
He’s travelled from to the Antarctic on the HMS Protector Royal Navy ship, where he got up close and personal with humpback whales. Rees got the opportunity to sit with and paint elephant seals in their “awful” gas-filled aroma.
Temperatures didn’t often drop down to freezing but Rees kept his gloves on and mixed spirit water into the water so it wouldn’t freeze; he said: “I wanted to go because of the wanderlust; I’ve always wanted to go to these places.”
Rees found that penguins were the most enjoyable animal to paint, he said: “Penguins are great fun to draw and paint.” He continued: “And they can’t fly away!”
Director of the Nature in Art Museum, Simon Trapnell said: “We have been in association with Darren for more the 25 years, we have established links with him and have regularly shown his work over the years. We supported his application for winning the residency to the Antarctic, so it was logical to have him back and to support his work and give people the chance to meet him.”
Rees would do quick sketches and paintings out on land and would go back to the crows nest of the ship and paint in watercolours or acrylics. His paintings are filled with colours and textures rather than mirroring a photo, he said: “I don’t like paintings that look like photo’s – just take a photograph.”
His trip came to end after a five weeks but his dream is to return, he said: “It’s the wildest place on Earth.”
