About D. Prentice Art

Donna is rapidly becoming a well-known and loved Australian Wildlife Artist. As an emerging artist, her work has been recognised both nationally and internationally for her skill in depicting wildlife in watercolour.

Donna isn’t inspired by wildlife.  She was raised by it.

Donna's work explores the fragile relationship between Australians and the wildlife disappearing from our everyday lives that has up to this point, shaped our national identity.

Raised in rural Victoria by a Fisheries and Wildlife officer, Donna grew up surrounded by orphaned and injured native animals undergoing rehabilitation. Possums slept in her bed, birds occupied makeshift enclosures, and wild creatures moved freely between the domestic and natural worlds. For her, Australian wildlife was never something observed from afar—it was family and companion.

Working primarily in watercolour, Donna uses meticulous layers of transparent pigment to capture the individuality and presence of native animals. Feathers, fur, eyes, and gesture are rendered with close attention, inviting viewers into intimate encounters that mirror her own childhood experiences.

Her paintings explore themes of memory, belonging, and environmental loss. At a time when many Australians are becoming increasingly disconnected from the natural world, her work asks what is lost when wildlife becomes something encountered only in photographs, reserves, or memory.

By balancing realism with passages of abstraction, Donna seeks to create works that are both portrait and remembrance—celebrations of the remarkable animals that share our continent, and quiet reflections on our responsibility to protect them.

Through each painting she hopes to foster the same sense of wonder, affection, and connection that first began with a rescued possum, a curious bird, or a moment of stillness in the Australian bush.