PROFILE

Gamini Ratnavira, born and raised in Sri Lanka, utilizes a photographic memory and life experience to enhance his colorful and vibrant images of rainforest birds and mammals with intriguing stories and research information about each painting. His artwork reveal his love for art coupled with an unrestrained, lifelong reverence for nature and animals.

A self-taught artist from Sri Lanka, Ratnavira’s study of wildlife was, as a student of nature, the most important influence in his life. I n Sri Lanka he created 38 postage stamps of Sri Lanka’s flora and fauna, published 40 paintings in Airlanka’s INFLIGHT magazine, created a large 8 x 16 foot canvas of Sri Lankan parrots in the Colombo airport, and held a one-man show of 150 paintings, that sold out in the first hour! Since coming to the United States, he has become a member of Society of Animal Artists, the Audubon Artists Society, and the San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild. He has been published in ZOONOOZ, BIRDTALK, BIRD WORLD, AMERICAN ARTIST, INFOMART, WILDLIFE ART, and US ART magazines. Gamini artwork is currently being published in a book on the gemological discoveries (tourmalines, etc.) here in San Diego County. Several of his paintings on “Endangered Species of San Diego County” are in the collection of the San Diego Natural History Musuem.

Gamini’s travels have taken him to 35 different countries in search of rare and endangered wildlife to recreate. He recently finished a 40 x 5 foot original for Safari West in Santa Rosa, CA depicting African Wildlife in Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Okavango Delta, and South Africa. In addition he has exhibited across the United States at such fine shows as Pac Rim in Seattle, WA, Southwestern Wildlife Art Show in Charleston, SC, Wildfowl Festival in Easton, MD, “Things with Wings” at the Germanton Gallery in Germanton, NC, the National Zoo in Washington D.C., and Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, WI. He founded and directed the “Reflections of Nature” wildlife art show in Fallbrook, CA.

In addition to leading tours to the Rain Forest, Gamini has illustrated several books and continues to honor the nature he loves by speaking about the rainforest and giving slide presentations to children and wildlife lovers everywhere.