Dalene Schafer

I was born, raised and educated in Pretoria, Gauteng province but lived for many years on a farm in the Kwazulu-Natal midlands before recently moving to Boemfontein in the Free State province. I always had a great love for animals, nature and the outdoors and these are most frequently the subjects of my art. Apart from breeding Arabian horses and miniature goats while farming in the KZN Midlands, I was also actively involved with the rescue and rehabilitation of injured and misplaced wild animals and birds and became painfully aware of the threat that mankind and civilization pose to our natural environment and wildlife. It is through my art that I hope to raise public awareness of the beauty and vulnerability of our natural heritage so that we may become more conservation conscious. I am a realist painter who use mixed media, acrylics, oils, pencil and oil pastels to capture my subjects true essence. I work from photographs and sell work through galleries and commissions e.g. portraits of people and animals. I had art and sculpture tuition for eight years at the Pretoria College of education while still at school but had no other formal art training.