Glenn Rowland was born in 1980 in Orlando, Florida. He received his BFA from Ringling School of Art and Design in 2002. He lives and works currently in Raleigh, North Carolina. At a very young age Glenn Rowland was always interested in art and was constantly drawing. Even at the age of 6 he knew that he wanted to be an artist. He initially thought he might like to be an animator because of his love for animation and comics, but with time and age he became more fascinated with drawing from life. His focus then shifted to contemporary realism because of his love of getting lost in all the small details of his subjects. His work is always evolving and changing to various themes that he finds relevant to his own life and the world around him.

Glenn Rowland’s current work has been focusing on nature and the beautiful creatures that it contains. He has created a series of animal portraits. The images are always of a single animal in a natural scene. These images are meant to invoke feelings of solitude, peace and tranquility. All creatures’ weather they are human or of the animal kingdom need breaks from the distractions of the busy world around them. People need these moments to reflect and collect their thoughts so that they can go back into the world with fresh eyes and continue their own personal journeys.  Animals may not be as cognitive in this regard as humans are but they are still taking restful breaks from their own busy existence.  So with this theme viewers of the work can identify and relate to the symbolic nature of the images.

I use many different mediums, such as pencil, pen and ink, charcoal, acrylic and oil paint. I believe that working in a single medium is restrictive to my artistic process. Each idea manifests in its own individual style.

I am mostly inspired by the beauty of nature found in the people, animals and plants. I am also inspired by my daily life and events from around the world.