Raymond Bell was born in Knoxville, Tenn. Here he experienced the beauty of nature and a love for wildlife from spending much time in the Great Smoky Mountains as a young man. His early works reflected the landscapes of this area. He then worked in acrylics and oils.

Raymond is a self-taught artist whose primary artistic interest is the expression of his perceptions of the varied forms and colors of wildlife in their natural habitats. He is one of the few wildlife artists in the country painting exclusively in pastel today. Raymond has worked in his preferred medium of pastel for the past 20 years and has won more than 100 awards in his 30-year career. He is a Member of the Pastel Society of America, a national association of pastelists whose work meets the standards of excellence set the Society's panel of jurors.

In Knoxville, Raymond received a B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Tennessee before earning a Masters of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va. He served fourteen years a pastor of a Presbyterian church in Fairfax County, Va.

Raymond was commissioned by the Virginia Recreation & Park Society to do the original of the first in a series of limited edition prints of the state parks in Virginia. He has exhibited in some of the finest wildlife art shows on the east coast, as will as the National Wildlife Art Collectors Showcase in Minneapolis, Minn., and friends of the National Zoo Wildlife Art Festival. He has had three previous one-person shows at the National Wildlife Federation Gallery. His prints are offered in galleries across the U.S. and in Europe.

Raymond currently has 36 prints in publication, mostly depicting wildlife. He spends much time in field studies in the refuges and regularly donates prints to organizations who further the preservation of wildlife and the natural environment.

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