Artists

David Shepherd was a renowned British wildlife artist and ardent conservationist from London. He travelled to Kenya after finishing school in 1949 with the dream of becoming a game warden. Unfortunately, he was turned away and then suffered another rejection upon his return to the UK when he was not admitted to the Slade School of Fine Art in London. Luckily, Shepherd met the British painter Robin Goodwin and studied under him for three years. He then became an aviation artist for the Royal Air Force, who flew him all over the world in the commission of paintings. In 1960, they sent him to Kenya, where he painted his first wildlife artwork: a rhino chasing a plane on a runway. An encounter there, of finding a herd of zebras dead from drinking from a well poisoned by poachers, turned him into a conservationist. He initially donated the sale of his artwork to wildlife charities until he founded his own in 1984, the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation.

Shepherd was also a railway enthusiast and loved painting steam engines. He helped to establish a UK heritage rail line called the East Somerset Railway. He even owned locomotives, including a few in South Africa. In addition to aeroplanes, steam engines, and wildlife, Shepherd also painted landscapes and portraits. His most famous portrait was of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, painted in 1969. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1980 and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2008, both for his services to the conservation of wildlife. He was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1986.