About The Artist

Carol Ann O’Connor is a self-taught artist who first started to draw at the age of 3. Born in 1957 in the UK, her art career began in 1979 when one of her wildlife paintings was purchased by Royle Greetings Cards of London, quickly followed by commissions from fine-art printers. Carol Ann arrived in New South Wales Australia in 1980, where she continued her wildlife work, being commissioned by John Sands Greetings to produce work for their 1985 wildlife calendar. She quickly gained a reputation as one of Australia’s leading wildlife illustrators. In 1984 Carol Ann moved to the Pilbara region of Western Australia where she spent 3 years before finally settling in Albany on the South Coast. Her time in the Pilbara gave her the opportunity to see and feel the magnificence of her chosen land and this began to reflect in the work she produced. In 1990, Carol Ann was commissioned by the Department of Conservation and Land Management to paint the Noisy Scub Bird of Two Peoples Bay. The painting was purchased by the West Australian Government as a gift for HRH Prince Philip. The painting was exhibited at Windsor Castle, featured in a television art series, and now hangs in the dining room of the Queens private residence at Sandringham Palace. In 1999, Carol Ann began working with professional knife-maker David Brodziak, embellishing unique hand-made art knives, which are in collections around the world, mainly America and Saudi Arabia .Around that time, she decided that her wildlife work no longer offered her the challenges she needed and began to explore in more detail, a creative and spiritual connection Her years of painting wildlife have given Carol Ann the skills to produce highly-detailed work, life experiences give her the subject material for each painting and together with her creative imagination, combine to create the paintings of today. In undertaking her wildlife work she mastered the skills required for detailed observation and painting. She is now challenging herself to use these skills to explore the environment , interaction between people and the environment and inner physiological states. Her work explores connectivity. Each painting draws upon on the beauty of the world we live in and the beauty to be found in all of us, and celebrates our gift-of-life. Each painting takes hundreds of hours to complete. These multi-media pieces, worked in detail on illustration board, are embellished with gem-stones, pearls, crystals, antique and vintage jewellery making each painting an individual and truly unique piece of art. Carol Ann has produced work for Royle Greeting Cards, Solomon & Whitehead Fine Art Printers, John Sands Greetings, Kat Kards Greetings, Women Day and Women’s Weekly magazines. Her work is in many private collections around the world including, H.R.H Prince Philip, H.R.H Abdul-Aziz Abdullah Al Saud, Lady W H Smith. High quality Giclee prints are now available of Carol Ann’s recent work.