About the Gallery

My original painting "Dolphins in the Blue" won the Luminary award in the DSWF Wildlife Artist of the Year 2026 competition in London, UK, on September 8, 2026, at the Mall Galleries. I was honored to be chosen as a finalist, selected from over 1500 entries by artists from 60 countries and thrilled to win this award. This award honors creative works that effectively champion wildlife, nature and the conservation mission of DSWF. 

Debbie W Nelson earned a BA Degree in History of Art from Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. Her style incorporates her love for and studies of wildlife, art, architecture, and landscapes. Her favorite painting subjects are wildlife, in a style sometimes bordering on whimsical realism, not a photograph recreated, but a realistic image infused with a positive, uplifting spirit.  She incorporates the animals's personality and intelligence, based on years of working closely with  many species. It has an emphasis on color, whether light pastels or brilliant dark tones alternating with light (chiaroscuro) that she uses to emphasize her subject. As an artist, with extensive experimentation, she has a new found love for the versatility of fine acrylic paints. She studies her photos of many subjects and works on creating a special image in her mind, which she transfers to her canvas.

With an interest in different forms of art, she works on her mixed media figurines, now featured on this website. Starting with a substantial base or figure made out of wood, metal, resin and 3D printed materials, she applies a very thin coating of a sticky wax (a special wax mixed with resin) molding onto the figure. She then starts applying tiny glass beads, one at a time, with a narrow bead awl onto the wax. Creating a design with the beads, the wax holds the beads in position. Once the beads are in place, she cleans any waxy residue off the surface before applying several layers of a thin sealer, leaving a gloss finish on the figure. Some of her favorite figurines are birds and butterflies, because of the varied colors and designs she can create on them. 

Debbie had a lifetime career as a wildlife conservationist, as C0-founder and C0-Director of  “Kangaroo Conservation Center”, which was a conservation park and educational facility North of Atlanta, Georgia until 2013. Her facility housed the largest collection of kangaroos outside of Australia in natural environments, as well as numerous other wildlife species from Africa, Asia and South America. She enjoyed the educational aspect of teaching the importance of conservation and introducing animal species on numerous television shows around the world. The Center was a long-time member of AZA, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and was a recipient of the “2002 International Conservation Award” from the Association for creating and supporting a safe wild habitat in Papua New Guinea for endangered tree kangaroos, as well as for the successful captive breeding of endangered Matschie’s Tree Kangaroos at her Center in Georgia. Her love of animals and support of effective wildlife conservation continues even though she no longer works in the field. She credits her wildlife paintings to showing the animal's personality, in a positive light due to her years of establishing close relationships with many animals of various species. 

Her mixed media art figurine "Eastern Bluebird" was awarded a special prize in the recent 2024 "Call of the Wild" exhibition at Center for the Arts in Bonita Springs, Fl. 

 She was honored to be awarded 3rd place in the international Endangered Fine Art & Photography Competition in Miami, Florida, for her painting “Sarus Cranes”. 

Her art has been exhibited at festivals and competitions across South Florida. She chooses to exhibit at festivals in her home base, Florida, although her clients range across the USA. Shipping is always an option. 

Debbie grew up in Naples and returned in recent years to live here full-time. As an outdoor enthusiast, she enjoys the tropical environment for both fauna and flora.