If you haven’t heard of the artist Gordon Pembridge–he needs to be on your radar. Now.
Born in Kenya, Pembridge now lives in picturesque New Zealand and he’s always had a deep connection with nature and his surroundings. As a fine artist and sculptor, he draws inspiration from the beauty of the earth around him.
A series of his work that has been garnering worldwide attention is his beautiful, intricate, and breath-taking wooden vessels that he carves and paints by hand.
Pembridge’s artwork incorporates wildlife, natural history, and nature itself.
His sculpting technique is quite fascinating and consists of a method using a woodturning lathe to shape the timber that he’s using. Once the shape has been formed, this is when Pembridge gets down to the details.
Meticulously and beautifully, he hand-carves the wood into mind-blowing motifs which he then hand-paints to display animals, plants, trees, and anything else that inspires him from his homes of Kenya and New Zealand.
Pembridge uses artists colors and incredible detail to create his stunning work.
This fine art painting, oil on linen, entitled The Lucky Five tells a story of five orphaned rhino rescued from poached parents successfully reintroduced back into the wild. A percentage of the sale of limited edition prints is to go to help in keeping these rhinos safe and to help other rhino orphans.
Wood art and wildlife fine art is Pembridge’s living (although it’s hard to imagine having time for anything else!). The talented artist also partakes in photography, engraving, illustration, and even graphic design. Nature and wildlife, however, seem to be the all-encompassing theme of his gorgeous work.
Some of his work can be viewed below, but to explore his entire collection, head to his website–www.gordonpembridge.com.
Migrating zebra titled Zebras Rest
It’s hard to wrap your head around the fact that this is hand-carved and painted. The detail in the trees and zebras is absolutely mind-boggling. It truly looks like a photograph. Pembridge has even paid special attention to the reflection of the animals in the small stream. Here’s a closer look at the details…
Leopard hunting impala
This piece titled Spotted Stealth is taken from a scene straight out of the African bush, Pembridge has recreated a striking moment with a leopard on the hunt for scattering impala. Not only are the animals so expertly carved and painted, but again, the branches of the foliage are just stunning.
Meerkat on its perch titled Dawn Lookout
A small meerkat on lookout, peers out at his surroundings in this gorgeous piece. Surrounded by the thorny tangle of branches illustrating the dangers of his prickly surroundings, it is hard to imagine how much time went into every single detail of this wooden vessel.
A vivid Monarch
A brightly colored Monarch butterfly is so realistic in this piece that it feels like you can reach out and touch it. Paired with the vividly green ferns, this vessel is truly awe-inspiring.
Elephants at sunset titled The Last Of The Line
Pembridge captured the colors of an incredible sunset in this bas relief carved vessel. A lone elephant walks amongst the trees while the canopy hovers beautifully above.
Spiraled ferns
Taking a step back from the fauna, Pembridge has focused his attention on the flora for this gorgeous piece. The entire vessel has been hand-carved to perfection. He has let the natural wood stand out on the exterior while painting the interior a beautiful blue-to-green fade.
Giraffes on the move
This piece titled Arid Sojourn is about the ever-present search for water in the dry season. The giraffe depicted here briefly visiting a dry water hole then moving on to look elsewhere among the dry bush for water. Absolutely beautiful.
Since 2006, Pembridge has won an impressive amount of awards for his work–although it’s no surprise that he has. His work is simply stunning.
If you’d like to see more of Gordon Pembridge’s work, check out his website or follow him on Facebook.
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