Read this Wildlife Art Journal article

Denis Clavreul is the quintessential naturalist.  As an ecologist, he recognizes the patterns of life that create environmental mosaics in the wild world;  as an artist, he has the perceptive capabilities of translating them.  Often, scientists paint tightly, almost photo-realistically yet Clavreul in watercolor and other mediums is known for his looser intrepretations of subjects, be it birds in flight, human architecture or the skyscapes and settings of tera firma.

He tries to be non literal.

"I love the sensuality of the line, the result of a necessary balance between tension and relaxation, renewing this challenge every time, all attempts to get to the point with so few resources," he says.  "The curvature of an incomplete spine is often more alive than a complete drawing of the animal."

In this edition of Five Questions/Five Artworks, Spaniard Juan Varela interviews Clavreul about his melding of right and left brained thinking in his approach to fine art.  Varela and Clavreul have been friends for years and participants in expeditions sponsored by the Artists For Nature Foundation.

Born in 1955, Clavreul describes himself as self taught and has honed his observational abilities by painting and drawing from life. At present heis carrying on a personal quest to study and track the 19th century path that John James Audubon took in assembling his famous lithographs of birds and mammals in North America.  (The French have a passionate fascination with Audubon given that he was of French descent and born...