A Night at the Opera

I used to regularly attend concerts by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. There is no mistaking the passion and intensity of a great conductor. Originally I had intended to have the subject with arms raised but as the painting developed it became clear that power of the music could be felt in a much more subtle, satisfying way through this pose and expression. The title is a nod to the band Queen's album of the same name.

10% of artist's earnings will go to Animals Australia

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Dylan Shearsby (born Johannesburg, South Africa, 1979) is a painter and storyboard artist working in film and television. He studied Japanese Sumi-e with the late master Andre Sollier and watercolour with Andrew Gemmill.

As a storyboard artist Dylan has worked on six feature films including the upcoming War Machine (Netflix), Insidious 6 , Saccharine (Stan), along with many TV series and hundreds of commercials.

He has written and illustrated three children’s books, Upside Down Sid, Upside Down Sid Goes to Work (2018), and Waiters in Elevators (2025), published by Little Hare, a Hardie Grant imprint.

Inspired by Andrew Wyeth, Ann Gale and Antonio Lopez Garcia, Dylan seeks to blend realism with the distortion of dreams. The human figure, the natural environment and movement are central themes in his work.

Dylan occasionally teaches figure drawing and painting workshops.