Wayne E. Smyth, Wildlife Artist, World Traveler

Abstract

Wayne E. Smyth is an- enthusiastic naturalist who has spent a great deal of time actually out in the field living with nature at first hand. His paintings reflect a deep understanding and an intense appreciation of the animals he portrays.

This intense involvement with the earth and its creatures began in Rome, Italy, on an impulse. Wayne was working in Rome as an advertising art director when, while at lunch one day, he passed the office of East African Airways and on an impulse walked in and bought a ticket to Entebbe , Uganda. Many men have felt this "call of the wild" as Jack London called it, and Wayne was almost uncontrollably pulled toward the great primordial wilds of Africa.

For nine years he wandered about the "Dark Continent," sometimes just bumming, sometimes staying with friends, and for several years serving as a safari guide. All the while, his eager senses soaked up experiences of a raw primal narure-expenences totally unavailable in the world of glass, concrete, and fast-lane traffic; experiences

 

that take one back to the beginning of time and to the raw power of nature.

The truly wild plants and animals of Africa burned their way into Wayne's artistic sensibilities and later found expression in his paintings. Of course, Wayne took thousands of photos and made sketches by the hundreds. These sketches and reference films are used as aids in the finished detail work of his paintings. Although this method of research has led Wayne to well-established accuracy in his paintings, it has also led to many unusual situations with the animals as well. Some of these fascinating. experiences will be related with photo support in a subsequent "Watchbird" article.

When the African political climate caused most non-natives to leave, Wayne returned home to the United States. The "call of the wild" again beckoned (by way of an invitation to spend some time in Mexico with friends) and he found himself in tropical America. The overwhelming avifauna of the new world hit Wayne with great impact. Africa, of course, is dominated by the major mammals of the world. Its bird life is comp ara ti ve l y sparse and rs well documented. Tropical America, on the other hand, is dominated by a huge and diverse bird population and many of the birds are little known and seldom seen.

Wayne E. Smyth found a whole new world to explore and commune with. He began to visit Mexico and Central America each winter where the spectacle of tropical birds surpassed any bird experience he had in Africa. He found the gaudy and gregarious members of the parrot family especially captivating so he began to capture this bombardment of tropical color in his sketch book and camera. For the past four years he has spent his winters in the jungles studying the birds and his summers in Los Angeles painting them.

Smyths diverse background gives him unique qualifications for his work as a wildlife artist. His undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois include advertising design and zoology and his post graduate work at the University of Florida was in marine biology. Galleries in Nairobi, London, Frankfurt, Toronto, San Francisco, Dallas and Houston are successfully selling Wayne E. Srnytb 's work. He has had a number of one-man shows and has had paintings in several highly acclaimed traveling exhibits for the World Wildlife Organization. Presently he is represented in California by K.W. Johnson, Lrd., Los Angeles .•

 

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