by Monika

I grew up in Alberta and our friends had horses. I spent lots of weekends at their farm riding and just loved it. One of the great joys of my life has always been animals, one day I hope to have a horse of my own but until then, I will settle for admiring works like those of Craig Wonnacott Fine Art who has been painting only a short while professionally but whose work is magnetic and pays tribute so well to horses in particular. I caught up with him to learn a little about his inspiration and his background. To my surprise, he was a professional horse jockey for 15 years and he grew up in Zimbabwe! Artists like Craig have the most interesting stories! Enjoy his interview and be sure to come and meet him at the Art World Expo in Edmonton happening on April 12 at the Muttart Conservatory.

Ever since I can remember I have been creative and artistic, I have been drawing and making things all my life. I only really started painting at the beginning of 2018 . I mostly paint with acrylic.

When I was 15 years old I had the choice of an artistic career or to become a professional jockey , I chose the later and joined the Jockey Academy in Zimbabwe which is where I  grew up. I never gave up on my art.

I always said that when I retire from racing I would work as an artist. Horse racing took me around the world and for the next 35 years of racing I had time to really study the animal that would become my favorite topic to paint.

Although horses are my favourite things to paint I do a lot of portraits of pets and people.

I like painting abstracts when I need to loosen up a little, it gives me the freedom to just paint without rules.

Just for fun. If you woke up tomorrow with access to a plane ticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Although I am from Zimbabwe, if I could fly anywhere in the world it would be Costa Rica. One day I’m going to move there and paint horses on the beach for as long can. I need to sell a lot paintings in order to do so.

If you would like to learn more about Craig, be sure to visit his website and be sure to get your ticket to the 2nd annual Art World Expo in Edmonton.