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Few things excite me more than to be faced with a clean sheet of paper or canvas, pencils, paint and brushes. This is one of my earliest memories and today the feeling is as strong! Form, colour and light inspire and challenge me to explore their depths. A more recent passion is photography, particularly of the wealth of stunning indigenous flowers and landscapes in South Africa and Lesotho.
I am an artist, illustrator and photographer, as well as a Nature, Culture and Mountain Walking Guide. All these activities enrich each other and inspire new artistic avenues.
Mediums used: Oils, watercolours, pencil, pen & ink with washes, gouache and photography, (excluding computer graphics).
Commissions undertaken:
Christeen has undertaken many commissions for clients, and is confident in her ability to understand a client’s brief, and creating a piece that they love. The client decides on a budget and Christeen works with them on the details of the painting by email correspondence. To confirm a commission order, a 50% deposit is paid, with the remaining 50% paid on completion of the painting. Most pieces take 3 – 6 weeks to complete, depending on the size.
Artwork can be sent anywhere in the world via international courier, and via Postnet within South Africa. It is much cheaper and safer to send unframed watercolour artwork, which is rolled in a cardboard tube, (this excludes the existing oil landscapes which are already framed, new oil paintings will be unframed).
Pricing:
Prices are quoted in South African Rand (ZAR), and EFT deposits into the artist’s local South African bank account is the usual payment method.
Prices range from R2 000 for a small watercolour / R4 000 for a small oil piece, roughly A4 30 x 21cm (paper size) to R5 000 / watercolour and R15 000 / oil for a large piece roughly A2 60 x 42cm, with most paintings being somewhere in the middle.
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Freelance Commission Experience:
Botanic, Wildlife and Textbook illustrations for several publishers:
8 "Oryx Wildlife Posters" depicting the different flora and fauna of South Africa for Prof. Gordon Maclean and his wife Cherie Maclean.
S.A Post Office, "Whales of the Southern Oceans", a set of 4 postage stamps.
"Handart" to promote uShaka Marine World's (Durban, KZN, South Africa) Body Art and Graffiti Expo, 2007/9.
University of Natal Press (and Cambridge University Press): "Bats of Southern Africa" written by Dr. Peter Taylor ("Mammals of the Southern African Subregion")
WESSA Sani Wildlife, "Mammals of Sani Pass" poster.
Illustration commissions for publishers, Macmillan SA, Maskew Miller Longman SA, Pearson Education SA, Shuter and Shooter Pty Ltd, Struik/New Holland, Oxford University Press SA, Cambridge University Press SA, KwaZulu-Natal University Press, Lingua Franca Publishers, Vivlia Publishers and Book Sellers.
Exhibitions:
Solo: ‘Southern 'Berg Wanderings’ mixed media 2006
Joint: ‘Trees’ mixed media 2008
Joint: ‘Passion for Plants’ photographs 2010 Botanical Artists' Association of South Africa
Solo: ‘Playing with Light’ mixed media 2020 online Christeen Grant Creative Arts website
Work Experience
1978-1981: Textile Designer / Studio Co-ordinator: Da Gama Distributors: Durban & Johannesburg
1981-1983: Textile Designer / Studio Co-ordinator: Tongaat Textiles Ltd: Johannesburg
1986-1989: Johannesburg Design Marketing and Sales Developer (Textile design): Liz Tur Consultants
1983-Present: Freelance Illustrator and Artist
(Paintings, textbooks, readers, natural history field guides and posters)
2007-Present: Freelance Tour Guide KZN 1025, Nature, Culture and Drakensberg Mountain Hiking
Voluntary work:
2007- Present: CREW (Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers) volunteer
2015-2020: Wilderness Awareness in the Southern Drakensberg, (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa), overnight hikes for young people who would not otherwise have been able to experience mountain wilderness. These have been run under our Southern Secrets Hiking and Backpacking, Wilderness Awareness Program, two hikes a year, starting in 2015.
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Contact Details:
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Illustrator, Artist & Photographer
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Professional Mountain Walking, Nature & Culture Guide KZN 1025
1st Runner up, Adventure Guide, KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) Tourism, 2019 Lilizela Awards
Email: christeengrant@outlook.com
www.facebook.com/christeengrantcreativearts
www.facebook.com/southernsecretshikingandbackpacking
www.facebook.com/christeen.grantfield
https://christeengrant.wordpress.com
P.O. Box 111
MERRIVALE
3291
KwaZulu-Natal
SOUTH AFRICA
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