Get to know me

Hi there, I’m Kylie J

I am an Australian artist based in the South Western suburbs of Sydney. I have always had a love of drawing animals and nature and after being made redundant in my job I decided to take myself off to university to learn what this art malarkey was all about. With my passion for nature and all its close up detail I chose Newcastle University as they offered an arts degree majoring in plant and wildlife illustration where they taught the fundamentals of Scientific Illustration. I thought, what could be better: plants, animals, detail and accuracy. It suited me down to the ground. I had always leaned towards drawing details and when I was given a set of 36 Derwent Artist coloured pencils - which I still have - by my parents one Christmas as a young child, I discovered my first love. Two more years spent in post-graduate study only increased my fascination with insects and the micro world.

In the years since, I have produced work for the Taronga Zoo, Australian Botanic Gardens, State Forest, as well as Council interpretive signage, Biodiversity study illustrations, private businesses and others.

Fast forward more years than I’m comfortable remembering as well as a few different careers, I once again found myself out of work, after my 20yr career in the photographic industry petered out.

With my love of all things nature, and the environment, I was drawn to the care of animals. So off I went to complete my certificate and training in Captive Animal Care. This led me to a wonderful Wildlife Sanctuary called Wirrimbirra, where I began volunteering and caring for Australian native animals and the rediscovery of my passion for drawing and creating art.

I’ve since branched out from purely coloured pencil work and will quite often incorporate pastels and ink to get the effects I’m after. Rediscovering my love of scratchboard or scraper board as it is sometimes know, has really let me get my detail on. Constant learning and teaching myself new ways of doing something has recently had me learning how to incorporate coloured inks into my scratchboard pieces.

A friend asked if I would draw a larger than life portrait of his wife’s beloved Weimaraner they had lost years before as an anniversary gift. After the initial fear of the shear scale of his request, I surprised myself and loved every minute of it. This portrait now has pride of place on a large easel in their living room.

I loved creating something that evoked such joy for my client, the treasured memory of their cherished fur family, and I would love nothing more than to do the same for you.

Let’s chat and make it happen.

Kylie J

This series of work was completed for State Forests NSW for interpretive signage Illustrating the benefits of managed forests through the thinning process.