My Background

Ilona Scott was born and raised in Gauteng, South Africa. She attended the University of Witwatersrand where she graduated with a law degree. She later received her Masters in Business Leadership from the University of South Africa. Ilona started painting in 2001, when she joined a woman's group involved in acrylic painting on fabric. This provided a basic foundation to learn and use all the techniques she needed. Her earlier works ranged from landscape to basic abstract and she successfully sold many of her paintings. Her current style emerged when she moved to Canada in 2010. Whilst still called abstract, it showcased her African heritage and her abounding love for the African continent and it's people.

My Medium

Having started with acrylics all those years ago and having mastered some basic techniques, Ilona is able to paint vibrantly hued masterpieces. Bright colours are a significant part of the African landscape. From the bluest skies to the brightest sunsets to the vibrantly coloured clothing that adorn the traditional peoples, Ilona captures them with top-class acrylics. Acrylics have unique qualities and over the years have leveled the Artist's playing field. Ilona maintains that in some ways it is a brutal medium because it dries so quickly. She prefers using acrylic because it is not a high maintenance medium if the best quality is used, as opposed to solvent-based oil paints and will last forever. High grade acrylics offer very vibrant colours which Ilona uses to capture Africa and its peoples in their true and majestic colouring

My Inspiration

Africa is naturally very beautiful, and no country is more beautiful than its people. These are the words that Ilona recently said in an interview. Ilona's main inspiration comes from her wanting to show the inner and outer beauty of all African people. While some find it easy to homogenize and generalize about 'Africans', the truth is that within those 54 separate and unique countries, there are over 3000 different tribes! Perhaps South Africa, Ilona's birthplace, best reflects this diversity through its constitution with11 official languages recognized by law. Ilona's works often feature people in various upright standing poses, surrounded in a bold, bright African world. Rather than portraying them and their faces individually and realistically, she prefers to show them as collective and abstract . This is because the African self-consciousness is defined in terms of the community being collectivistic rather than individualistic.

Ilona lives the philosophy of Ubuntu in her daily life..."I am because you are".