Colin was born in 1950 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Although Wilkinson had no formal training, he spent many hours learning and developing his talent from his artist mother and further honing his phenomenal talent by associating with many great artists during the 1970s and '80s.
It was no coincidence that he got a job working at a top framing company. Leading artists would drop by and consult with him about aesthetic framing combinations to best suit their work. For his part, Wilkinson would ask why and how a particular artist would paint a certain way to gain a specific effect.
Works by Chris Tugwell, Christiaan Nice, and Thomas Hacking regularly came in for framing, and I got to ask questions of the artists," says Wilkinson.
Wilkinson only defeated the "demon of indecision" and started painting full-time in 2002, when he was fifty-two. Within five years, his work had become so in demand that he could never mount a full exhibition as his art was being shipped worldwide too fast!
Like his mentors, Wilkinson seeks inspiration in the broad canvas of the South African landscape and its people just going about their daily chores. In style, Wilkinson's work is firmly in the camp of modern South African Post Impressionism. His increasing use of impasto techniques gives further depth to his studies.