About me

From modern Africa to contemporary, Beau van Zyl’s vibrant works of art are close to being the Africa of one’s dreams. Her colourful art is a pleasure, no matter what perspective one takes, and her modern interpretation of Africa is her key to success.

She takes her inspiration directly from nature. “When painting from scratch the creative process needs to start somewhere and animals, African animals especially, inspire me,” she says. The colour combinations and the interaction between colour and the subject are striking elements of her work. Beau creates light filled paintings of animals that reveal something special about them. She excels in optimising the expressions in the animals’ eyes, to such an extent that they are almost alluring.

Her style has changed over the years and has matured in colour, texture and subject. She loves to experiment and uses not only the ordinary brush-technique, but also various other techniques such as the knife- and the flow- techniques. She also paints with acryl or oil over newspaper articles.

Beau holds a B.A. degree and a Higher Education Diploma after studying at the University of Pretoria intending to become an Arts Teacher. After a few short stints at various institutions and having graduated as an interior decorator, she eventually decided to turn her hobby as painter into a full-time career.

Beau van Zyl is not new to the art scene but an established name in art circles. Her latest creations hang in some very prominent public and corporate buildings and entertainment venues in South Africa as well as Canada, Germany, Australia and South Africa, where she exhibits on an annual basis in her town of heritage, Ermelo in the Mpumalanga province and in her studio in Pretoria. During one of her recent annual expos in Canada, the Canadians snapped up all her art. Prints of her paintings were also used on a calendar of the African Sky Hotels and Resorts. Paintings were sold in Germany and Australia. She also did all the artwork for the Government Pension Fund.

She has studios in Pretoria as well as on their farm in the Ermelo district, and her art can also be seen in Knysna at the Art-on-the Square gallery.