We recently connected with Agnieszka (Aga) Elliott and have shared our conversation below.

Agnieszka (Aga), looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

Learning the craft of wildlife painting can be both rewarding and challenging. In order to capture the correct anatomy and form of animals, I had to acquire good observation skills, which means that sometimes I had to spend hours just observing animals in their natural habitat to better understand their behavior and unique characteristics. That requires to patience and persistence, and also time and resources that one does not always have. I can’t just pick up and leave for Africa, so I had to learn how to accurately capture that diverse beauty of the African wildlife through the eyes of my husband and his mom, who are both from South Africa.

Wildlife painting is a lifelong journey. I seek feedback from artists that I admire and respect, I try to attend as many workshops as I can, I try to paint everyday. I still face challenges but my passion for conservation and wildlife helps me move forward.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Agnieszka (Aga) Elliott. I was born in Krakow, Poland and I am a nationally and internationally recognized wildlife artist. My art career didn’t start until 2018 when I painted my very first elephant in watercolor. There was something about the process that brought me so much joy that I started to spend more time painting and experimenting with different mediums, landing on my favorite – oil.

My passion and personal connection to wildlife lead me to conservation. The very first time I realized that I could bring awareness through my paintings and raise money for important conservation issues was my commissioned piece of “Advocate for Equilibrium”, depicting a famous Yellowstone wolf 8.

I am currently involved with organizations such as The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, Artists for Conservation, and INVICTA Wildlife Fund.

Through my commissioned pieces, like pet portraits, I have met many wonderful people who became my friends and collectors. Based on my collectors’ needs I thrive to provide the highest quality art and service, which may include personal delivery to in and out-of-state clients, as well as picking up the costs of shipping. Art is a luxury item and this is the way I can say thank you and show my appreciation for their support.

As a wildlife artist and conservationist, I strongly believe in the power of art story telling. Through that story I hope to inspire positive change, create an emotional connection with the viewer and the natural world, thereby encouraging individuals to take action and become advocates for conservation.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Being an artist is a deeply personal and emotional journey with many rewarding aspects.

Witnessing an emotional response to a piece of art that I have created is very gratifying.

Through my art, I have made many wonderful and personal connection with others. I deeply cherish the moments in which the viewer shares their experience of travel while looking at the portrait of my rhino…..or, children will ask me all sorts of questions about the animals that I have painted, Sometimes a simple smile brought on by my work is enough to bring me joy. This power to inspire and provoke a meaningful thought is a wonderful and very rewarding feeling,

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Being an artist is definitely an emotional rollercoaster. It is a life of ups and downs consisting of numerous rejections by individuals and galleries. Having a great year just to face the next one with limited sales is demoralizing. Whenever self-doubt threatens to take over I am tempted to quit.

However, despite these struggles, I have learned few things. The support of my family is a very important factor to keeping me going. I discovered that each set back or failure as I used to call them, gives me a choice – I can learn from it and grow or I can give up. I decided to concentrate on building my skills and often ask for feedback and help. I found a wonderful artist who was willing to give me constructive criticism which aids in my growth. I have invested in an online class to learn the basics of oil painting, In short, I have found many paths to inspiration and encouragement.

But the best lesson I have learned is that resilience isn’t just about achieving success: it’s about embracing failures and rejections. It’s about overcoming the storms and moving forward, because that is what sets apart artists who truly make their mark in this world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.papillonfineart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/papillonfineart/
• Gallery representation: https://www.cherrycreekartgallery.com/