Edgar Valentine Odendaal (known as 'Val') has a God-given talent for art. He was born in 1944 in Nairobi and grew up in the wildlife paradise of the Kenyan bushveld. From an early age he loved painting and drawing the animals, bushveld and scenes around him. This evoked in him a life-long passion for art and for capturing the beauty which surrounded him. His artistic ability was evident from his earliest schooldays and he remembers the school art teacher entrusting him with the artroom keys so that he had free access to the facility whenever he wished. A large portion of his school holidays was spent on the old type safari, camping out in the bush with his parents and family. He gained a wealth of knowledge of the outdoors from these experiences, as well as from his father, who was a farmer, professional hunter and later a game warden at the Queen Elizabeth Park in Uganda. This knowledge combined with his inborn talent for painting and sketching has resulted in the exciting, authentic wildlife and nature studies that he now produces. Val is a self-taught artist with no formal art training. He has, however, developed his God-given gift to its present level. He started painting professionally in 1982 and uses various mediums; his favourite being oils. Accuracy and attention to detail are hallmarks of Val's work. Val and his wife Ethne lives, at present, in the Mpumalanga Lowveld of South Africa, close to the Kruger National Park and many of the private nature reserves in the area. The sounds of the bushveld and seeing the African sunrise over the thorn trees every morning inspire him to continue with this passion. His work is known locally and internationally and his paintings are now widely collected throughout the world. They are to be seen in diplomatic offices, corporate and company boardrooms as well as in game lodges and private homes. All Val's artworks are framed by the artist himself. He carefully selects the frame and mountings to suit each study and to display it to its maximum potential. He derives a deep satisfaction from seeing the creation through from its inception to its completion. Proverbs 18:16 'A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.' |