Workshop – Charity Dakin – Intermediate Level

Charity Dakin’s creativity has always been clear. “I’ve been drawing animals since I could hold a crayon,” she recalls. Born on Canada’s West Coast, the daughter of a dairy farmer and the oldest of five children she certainly was not born into the art establishment. Her early years revolved around chores, the farm animals, and drawing. And when she wasn’t drawing she was discovering all she could about wildlife. “I used to walk through the corn field on Saturdays after chores to my grandparent’s house. They had 2 things – a National Geographic magazine subscription and cable TV. I spent hours reading the wildlife articles and watching nature shows and then I’d go home and draw everything I saw. It was simply all-consuming.” Her fascination for wildlife combined with daily interaction with the livestock taught her two very important things – observation and hard work, qualities that would become evident in her painting. Her home in the northern boreal region of Canada gives her firsthand opportunities to observe the wildlife and landscapes that end up in her paintings.