Born in Zimbabwe and educated in design in South Africa, Odile moved to London in 1997. Her interest is based primarily on expressing her subject matter in a way that reflects each subject’s individuality. For her, the playfulness of a horse or the grandeur of a macaw is paramount, “for me emotion or the search for feeling through faithfulness in depiction and detail, forms the essence of my work…I am searching for truth and my preference is to work larger than life in order to increase the importance of my subject”. This can be seen in her life-size zebra, the care and attention she gives to each of her works in turn contributes beautifully to a fantastic end result, each ruffle in the fur or mark on a hoof allows for a natural non idealised representation of how her subjects would look like in the wild.

 
Odile is a minimalist in composition preferring to devote all detail to her subjects and maintaining the background as peripheral.

 
Her métier ranges from drawing through charcoal to acrylic on canvas and panels. For the latter, colour is predominant while the animal pose is pivotal to the composition.

 
“Odile demonstrates a natural intelligence over the wide range of mediums she commands. Her attention to detail and her ability to see into the soul of the subjects she paints gives her work an emotional depth that leaves you feeling as though each piece is as much an homage to the subjects imperfections, as it is to the miracle of its existence.” Nathaniel Lendor – Artist

Courtesy of the artist’s website.