The artistic visions of Carl Brenders reflect his respect for nature. His precise and lively
paintings capture the extreme realism of the birds, mammals and habitats he depicts.
Brenders paints every detail of his wildlife images - feathers, hair, leaves or pine thorns - until,
he says, "they get into my skin."
Brenders was born near Antwerp, Belgium, and has drawn since childhood. He studied
at the Fine Arts Academy in Antwerp and later at Berchem. He has produced wildlife
illustrations for a series of books entitled The Secret Life of Animals. His artwork is regularly
exhibited in the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum's prestigious Birds in Art and Wildlife in
Art shows.
The wildlife images of Brenders' art are first created from pencil sketches; from these
sketches his mixed media paintings of watercolor and gouache are completed with a technique
he has developed during the last 25 years. His paintings, which encompass every intricacy of
nature, devote equal attention to the detail of the wildlife subject and its habitat as well as to
the mood created by the light. His art is the subject of the critically acclaimed book, Wildlife:
The Nature Paintings of Carl Brenders, published by Harry N. Abrams in association with Mill
Pond Press.
Brenders' art enjoys international acclaim. He is widely collected in North America,
France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Holland, Argentina and in his native Belgium. Brenders
combines his dreams, his senses, his imagination and his strict attention to anatomical
perfection to make his paintings. He says, "Nature is already beautiful, already perfect. That is
why I paint the way I do with so much detail and so much realism - I want to capture that
perfection."
BIRTHPLACE: Antwerp, Belgium
EDUCATION: Fine Arts Academy, Antwerp, Belgium
EXHIBITIONS: Birds in Art, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
Wildlife in Art, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
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