Cerys Madden - Biography

Born in Rhodesia in 1975, I grew up around an array of pets and wildlife. We had many a wild visitor that crept bravely into our garden, and normally caused complete pandemonium with all of our other pets! We had a visit from a Black mamba (that was so huge- it stretched out for at least 4 miles!) and experienced many hairy encounters with the eight legged variety (most of which were the size of dinner plates!) The local nursery school had to close down for a day as a hippo was found wallowing in their swimming pool, jackals galore drove our dogs crazy, and our mongeese residents helped get rid of some of the other snakes! Always keen to rehabilitate any that were injured (with the obvious exception of the hippo!), we often shared our house with our wild guests. My mum drew the line at rats though- but was otherwise pretty much open to helping out any of the waifs and strays. I have been completely passionate about wildlife from childhood, and fancied myself as a bit of a Dr Do little really! I feel totally privileged to have been raised in Africa, and got to spend most of my time in the various game parks around the co

I attended school in North Wales for a few years (which is where my family originate from), before going back to Rhodesia (then Zimbabwe) where I lived for a further 20 years. Having experienced animals in the wild I can only emphasise the importance of conservation, as I would truly hate to see the diminished populations fade away into non existence. I have seen first hand the atrocities of poaching, and cannot emphasise the importance of conservation enough. For anyone who has lived or even visited Africa, you will know the powerful magnetism you feel inside when associated with it, and I am sincerely hoping that Iwill provide those people some much needed happiness and indeed some of the magic. It is my aim to remind people of the beauty and importance of our wildlife, and allow you to take away your very own mental piece of Africa!

I am a self taught artist specialising in wildlife through the medium of pastels, and am lucky enough to have a huge amount of support from my family and friends. I am not going to turn this into an oscar acceptance speech, but I would just like to say a big thank you to all of them. You know who you are!

I have always painted wildlife, in addition to horses and an array of other pets, and have done a few portraits too. I have exhibited my works through NEWA for the last two years, and they can be found in private collections around the world.

untry. Here, I got to see Africa’s big five, and of course a complete plethora of other wildlife. The funniest experience we had was coming up on a huge pride of lions basking in the sun, very close to the main road that wound through the game park. Sitting very quietly in the car in complete awe, we felt as if we were being sized up for dinner!