PatrickHedges - ProfilesArchive

About Me

This is my wildlife art websiteMarried with two brilliant boys (they should be, they each got half of my brain). I'm a manager of a live lobster exporting business in Adelaide, South Australia. I was born in Uganda and lived 14 years in East Africa, then 13 years in England, and now 16 years in Australia. That doesn't add up because I wandered around the globe for a while too (a long while) Below are some samples of my work (more can be seen in my albums

My Interests

Drawing and painting, cricket, weightlifting, bush walking and I love wildlife. Most of my paintings are of wildlife.

I'd like to meet:

Wildlife artists from around the world.

Music:

I love classical music, especially of the singing variety. People like Josh Groban, Russell Watson, Hayley Westenra, Kathryn Jenkins, Amici. I'm a Gilbert and Sullivan nut. I also love Dire Straits, Meatloaf, Hayley Jensen and many others.

Television:

Star Portraits, Greys Anatomy, Heroes, Spicks and Specks, Brothers and Sisters, House

Books:

I read a lot of autobiographies and also anything on Africa. At the moment, I've got about six different wildlife art books on the go.

Heroes:

My heroes are ordinary people who've done extraordinary things like Daphne Sheldrick who saves orphaned elephants in Kenya, David Shepherd who not only paints animals, but highlights their increasing plight, and David Attenborough who brought wildlife to the world

My Blog

"The end of the world is High", elephant in scratchboard

This scratchboard piece was inspired by a guy who made it into the 'Darwin Awards', which are awarded to people who find strange, unique and usually stupid ways to die. The following quote shows that ...
Posted by PatrickHedges on Fri, 09 May 2008 05:52:00 PST

A couple of portraits step by step

It's good fun to do portraits, but much better if you actually know or met the person. In the following two cases, the lady is from Malawi and we met her in her village of Chilicoti. She's the chief's...
Posted by PatrickHedges on Mon, 05 May 2008 08:21:00 PST

Kangaroo Island Fires and how they affect our business

Well, we've been heavily affected by this. The major fire has been raging around the township of Vivonne Bay which is exactly where our lobster tanks are when we first buy off the fishermen. There's a...
Posted by PatrickHedges on Wed, 12 Dec 2007 08:40:00 PST

A short WIP (work in progress) in scratchboard

For anyone who's interested, this is how I created my latest piece, a small scratchboard of a Crowned Crane, one of the most beautiful and unusual of African birds. First, start with a piece of...
Posted by PatrickHedges on Thu, 29 Nov 2007 07:05:00 PST

The Yorkshire Dales Three Peaks Challenge

On my recent trip to England, I re-aquainted myself with my old pastime, wandering about the hills and dales in Yorkshire and the Lake District. It's fantastic to simply wander across a farmer's land ...
Posted by PatrickHedges on Tue, 23 Oct 2007 06:19:00 PST

A lousy zoo but a great experience

As an animal lover, I hate to see them in zoos, but they are better there than going extinct in the wild. It's all in the way the zoo acts. Some zoos give the animals great conditions and plenty of ro...
Posted by PatrickHedges on Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:35:00 PST

Scratchboard frenzy

I think up until a month ago, I've considered myself a pastel artist. I've used pen, acrylics, watercolours, graphite and others, but pastels are what I was most comfortable with... . . until I t...
Posted by PatrickHedges on Thu, 16 Aug 2007 08:56:00 PST

Jury duty

I guess I'm in that situation which any registered voter can find themselves in, called up to jury duty. What a fantastic time waster it is. You report on the days you are asked to. You sit in the jur...
Posted by PatrickHedges on Mon, 25 Jun 2007 07:56:00 PST

Update on the Urban Art Show

I'd better update you on my showing at the Urban Art Show (see previous blog) It was very successful for me. I'd been warned that sales of art were slow so not to get my hopes up too much. My goal was...
Posted by PatrickHedges on Thu, 31 May 2007 06:55:00 PST

Upcoming art show featuring me!!

I'm excited to tell you I'll be showing 15 pieces of wildlife art at the 'Urban Art Show' at the Unley Town Hall, Unley, Adelaide, South Australia, Friday 25th - Sunday 27th May. This is the KentTown ...
Posted by PatrickHedges on Tue, 15 May 2007 09:55:00 PST