Tim Knepp

I have been told that my talent was evident at a very early age. I grew up in Western Pennsylvania spending as much time as possible wondering through the woods, camping, and fishing. During the summer I would go with my family to a cottage my grandfather built on the Ottawa River in Quebec, Canada. There I enjoyed fishing, exploring waterways and wildlife. These are places where my love of nature began.

At the age of ten I was awarded a five year scholarship to attend painting and drawing instruction from Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. I attended the Tam-O-Shanter Art Studies were I acquired skills and techniques for drawing and painting. I continued my education in art during my first year in college at Penn State University. Also having a strong interest in architecture, I decided to transfer to Kent State University for the next four years studying both Architecture and Illustration.

After my education I went to the Washington D.C. area and worked for a major architectural agency producing renderings for prominent buildings and landscapes in that area. I also continued my interests in the fine arts as an illustrator and soon realized what I enjoyed. Most of my work consists of wildlife, whether in illustration, fine art, or murals. I have been freelancing full time since 1983.

After acquiring the skills and techniques passed down from artists throughout the ages, the talent and insight on how to observe and perceive things to be is mostly self taught by the artist. There the passion of what I do can be found through my own life history and what I have seen. I work from my own observations, reference photographs and video, and collected specimens. Nothing can be more perfect than nature itself just for what it is. I convey this realism with my own interpretation and enjoy the manipulation of color and shadow.