Ebony Bennett
Ebony grew up in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales, on a rural property surrounded by bushland and wildlife. As a result, she has always been fascinated by nature and colours and am constantly inspired and awestruck by the array and ever-changing beauty of our Earths natural landscapes.
Her first painting was at the age of nine, when she was inspired after camping on a property at Birdwood, west of Wauchope, NSW. This was the first time that she had experienced the desire to capture what she saw on paper. Throughout her school life she continued to do art. In her final year at school, for her major artwork, she painted a scene from personal experience, based on her family and one of her favourite places, Barrington Tops. This was a series of three paintings of the Barrington Tops rainforest and the Allyn River.
After completing a degree in Environmental Science and working full time in science-related positions, she finally realised that illustration was her passion, and began working towards becoming a full-time artist by enrolling in Natural History Illustration (Honours) at the University of Newcastle, of which she received a Class 1 Honours.
Her thesis and major artworks were based on studies of the home garden environment and its beneficial garden critters. She chose twelve beneficial garden critters and completed illustrations using graphite, pen, ink, acrylic, and watercolour. She also compiled fact sheets, a children's book and have created a Beneficial Garden Critter website, all of which can be accessed through the Natural History Illustration pages.
She then continued on to a Masters in Philosophy (Natural History Illustration) at the University of Newcastle and studied the effect of light on the natural world, titled ‘From Sea to Snow: Illustrating the Effect of Light and Colour on the Natural World, A Visual Interpretation’.
The exegesis focuses on the historical, modern and cultural uses of light in artworks, and her artworks focus on the effect of light on five environments; coastal, grassland, woodland, forest and alpine.
Between completing her Honours and Masters she was employed by Greenleaf Retirement Village as an Artist in Residence and during that time she completed a series of works depicting the nature around the Village.