COLETTE CHEYNE
(1960 - )

Colette Cheyne was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1960. She started drawing things as a child, choosing her "favourite things" as subjects: a little ornament, a leaf or a feather, the Stubbs horses from her birthday cards or wild cats from a calendar. She studied art in high school and, after moving to Sydney, Australia in 1980, Colette attended a local art class where she began to experiment a little with paint and studied life drawing. Pencil remained her preferred medium, and upon her return to New Zealand in 1988, Colette began accepting commissions to draw children and pets. Her ability to portray something more than mere appearance made these sensitive portraits particularly successful. In 1992 Colette began painting in oils and sold the first of her animal paintings. She made the move to paint full time in 2000, and the next year won the prestigious best of show award in the international Wild Cat Art 2001 show for her painting, 'Serval'.

Colette's artwork has been featured in Sporting Classics and Wildlife Art magazines as an up and coming artist to watch. She is represented by galleries in New Zealand and the United States, and her oil paintings hang in private and public collections in New Zealand, the United States, and around the world.