An accomplished painter, Brett’s art career commenced in 1991 and is one of a handful of Australian artists to fully understand and execute the principles of traditional realism in bird and animal art.  “For natural history paintings, to be accepted and appreciated as serious collectable art, it is important for the subject and habitat to be faithfully accurate in relevance to the intended expression of the artist and adopted technique”.   

Specialising in oil on canvas, a medium allowing natural blends and glazes that best replicate textures of particular subjects, his artwork largely represents non-commercial subjects as his entire career has been influenced by little known and seldom seen species.  His paintings provide a unique and attractive way of documenting and recording wildlife that otherwise could not be experienced through other mediums such as photography.

 His working year is balanced between painting in his studio and essential field research to further understand that “feel” for the anatomical structure and textures of his subjects that make each and every species unique. To date, a thirty-three year passion for bird watching and mammal watching has allowed extensive travel through twenty-eight countries with the most visited regions being the Southern Ocean, Antarctica and the eastern tropical Pacific studying marine wildlife. 

Field projects on Weddell seals in east Antarctica as well as marine birds and mammals in the eastern tropical Pacific were outstanding insights into animal behaviour and beauty.  Prior to this a wide array of voluntary positions in south-eastern Australia since 1987 presented valuable opportunities to visit off-shore islands and experience working with Australian fur-seals and Sea lions, Australasian gannets, and Southern right and Blue whales to name a few. 

Brett has been a long-time supporter of animal welfare organizations and conservation groups and in April 2005, under the patronage of H.R.H. Prince Charles and supported by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, two illustration plates from the award-winning book “A Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife” were donated to the Save the Albatross Campaign. Auctioned at Trinity House, London, the paintings reached the sale price of AUD $40,000, twice the price of the next highest works by some of the United Kingdoms best bird artists.

 Released in 2006, Brett is author and illustrator of the highly popular field guide: “Whales, Dolphins and Seals”, the first ever natural history book to illustrate all known races and species variation of the world’s marine mammals. Published in several languages, this groundbreaking work has over 500 illustrations based largely on Brett’s own personal field experience from many parts of the world.
Further releases in 2007 highlighting Brett’s work include two scientific volumes: “Monograph to the Albatross, Petrels and Shearwaters of the World “and “Marine Mammals of the World: a guide to their identification”. 

I hope you enjoy viewing the artwork of Brett Jarrett.