Durwood Coffey (Born in 1951) followed in the footsteps of his childhood heroes such as Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle. In only a few years after his birth, he would pick up paper and pencil and begin to draw. He learned the art of illustration until he became one of the best illustrators in the world. He then practiced this visual skill for more than 3 decades in the corporate world. Coffey’s clients came from across the country and they represented such firms such as Anheuser-Busch, Detroit Edison, Sea World, General Motors, Marvel Comics and Capital Cities. In this commercial visual training ground, projects ranging from the creation of major series of paintings to spot illustration in periodicals for corporate boardrooms were designed and made. Coffey kept his artistic skills and vision honed in this business environment until a day in which he could let them loose upon the personal subjects of his choice.
With the lack of restrictions in exploring the immense variety of wildlife subjects existing in the world and referencing them through his personal artistic expression, a collection of animals, fish and insects took form and awaited the eyes of the viewers for consummation. Coffey felt it was imperative to go back to painting the subjects that he most cherished as a child. These are the images that never left his creative imagination. He was attracted to the world of the animal kingdom and its habitat, and these soon became alive on his canvas and paper.
