Tattoo 2: Ghost Dance (2009) Painting by Carl Verster

I was born and raised in South Africa, spending most of my youth in the veld in what is now KwaZuluNatal. Both my parents were passionate about two things. Nature and Art (My father is a scultptor and has dabbled in painting, and my mother a very accomplished watercolour artist). From an early age I was exposed to both in large doses and developed a love of my own for wildlife and art, both which I embroiled myself in as much as possible. My earliest memories of career choice were to either be a "Game Ranger", an "Artist" or a "Writer". My formal art education is limited to art as a school subject and consequently I am pretty much self taught. Although I don't believe that not having a formal art qualification is necessarily a bad thing, I do believe that many of the lessons I have learned over the years by trial and error could have been easier learned in a lecure hall. Inspired and terrified by the raw and savage beauty of the wild and the unlimited potential of a blank canvas, I paint in equal measures from my head, my heart and my soul. I tend to get hooked on a particular element in nature (zebra stripes for example) and, in the wee hours of the morning, when the rest of the world sleeps, exorcise all my emotions with a paintbrush and loud music by working on different takes on that theme until I feel it's time to move on to the next theme. Strangely enough I have never had an exhibition! Every time I begin collecting enough work to exhibit I find my work selling as quickly as I paint (admittedly a nice problem to have). I have paintings hanging in private collections around the world, from America and Canada through to the Antipodes and luxury safari lodges on the Serengeti.

• Nationality: SOUTH AFRICA
• Date of birth : 1979
• Artistic domains:
• Groups: Contemporary South African Artists