Stephen Fishwick

Art Brokerage: Park West Artist: Stephen Fishwick American Artist: Growing up on a farm in Ohio, Fishwick fell in love with animals at a very early age. While drawing and painting them, he grew to appreciate their fragility. Fishwick took his first formal painting class at age ten, and it was in high school that his art first earned him accolades. With the persistence of his high school art teacher, he enrolled at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Less than a year later, he started working as a professional artist, drawing portraits, caricatures, and illustrations. In 1996, Fishwick began expanding his artistic education by studying traditional drawing and painting under Jeff Watts at the Watts Atelier of the Arts in Southern California. Influenced by a wide range of renowned painters—from Norman Rockwell to Salvador Dali, John Singer Sargent to J.C. Leyendecker—Fishwick has created a style all his own. "Every day I fall in love with drawing the human face and form," he says. "My sketchbooks are filled with drawings of life, from people to animals." It was in 2004 that Fishwick started combining his passion for music, people, and animals with his unique brand of high-energy speed-painting in a way that evoked a visceral response from his audiences. In 2007, he produced a high-energy live-art painting show featuring endangered animals that he performed at the world-famous San Diego Zoo. The show was designed to educate and creatively inspire participation in the plight of endangered wildlife via an unforgettable explosion of art and imagination. Listings wanted.