CLAUDIO D'ANGELO was born in Montreal in 1956. A childhood passion for drawing led him to study commercial art and subsequently work for several years as an illustrator/designer in an ad agency. In his spare time he steadfastly pursued his desire to paint the birds and animals that had inspired and fascinated him for so long. An important painting commission for Cast Shipping Ltd. in 1980 permitted him to leave advertising and devote his time fully to painting.

Seeing nature as an inexhaustible source of inspiration, Claudio finds it essential to reinvigorate himself and his work by continually returning to it. At the core of his work is the desire to show the graceful form and colour of his animal subjects, so beautifully harmonized with their natural surroundings.

Claudio's work is represented in numerous private and corporate collections in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. As well, his commissioned images have appeared on coins for the Royal Canadian Mint, on several conservation stamps for the Fondation de la Faune du Québec and as limited edition prints for Ducks Unlimited. His work has been the subject of several magazine articles and has been showcased in books such as L'Odyssée du Garrot d'Islande en Amérique (André Dion, 2009), L’Âme des Oiseaux (Éditions Henri Rivard, 2005), The Best of Wildlife Art (North Light Books, 1997) and From the Wild (Summerhill Press, 1986). He is a member of the Society of Animal Artists and has exhibited at the National Museum of Wildlife Art (Jackson Hole, Wyoming), the Algonquin Art Center, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum and the Bennington Center for the Arts.		 “I paint animals because for as long as I can remember they have both fascinated and stirred something within me. Growing up, I found that this feeling was unwavering and felt compelled to express it in art. Part and parcel of my fondness for animals is an equal fondness for where they live. Some of my happiest memories are of times spent hiking, observing and painting, in all weather conditions, in the serenity of northern woodlands, along mountain passes and quite often, simply in the fallow fields near where I live. Through my work I have strived to capture what I could of the fleeting beauty I have seen as well as convey some of what I have so far come to understand of these creatures in their secretive world.”
©2006 CLAUDIO D'ANGELO