timothy donovan
Wildlife and the outdoors has always been Tim's love and recreating these images is his passion. Growing up in Maryland Tim spent his summers on the shores of Solomon's Island on the Chesapeake Bay. Growing up in this environment gave him the opportunity to experience a wide diversity of wildlife from otters to eagles that would both capture his spirit and direct his path.
His love of wildlife was passed down from his father. Tim’s father was a helicopter pilot and would donate his time flying researchers from the Peregrine Falcon Program to nesting sites for the purpose of counting and banding the birds. Tim had the opportunity to be around the researchers and handle the falcons.
"I can remember having at any given time around the house skunks, raccoons, ferrets and turtles and numerous birds. Even as a child I loved the animal's form and beauty, I would sculpt birds out of any material I could find."
At the age of twelve, Tim’s father started him at what would become a thirty-seven-year carrier in taxidermy specializing in birds. This anatomical knowledge would prove invaluable for his paintings.
By the age of twenty, Tim started sculpting out of wood, and in his first competition won first place and best of show.
Tim did not seriously pursue painting until the age of thirty. Being self-taught he wanted more education so he enrolled in college majoring in both art and biology at the University of Texas at San Antonio to be a medical illustrator. After college, he still wanted to further his knowledge. For the next two years, he apprenticed with artist Matt Zoll from the Zoll School of Fine Art, learning traditional realism. Here he learned how to grind his own pigments and make his own mediums and oils like the old masters. The years spent with Matt dramatically changed Tim’s work.
Tim has had the opportunity to live all across the country from northern California to Texas and the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia where Tim currently resides.
Tim's studio time is filled with painting for major art shows, contests,s and commission work.
