Dafila’s work covers a broad spectrum from abstract to more figurative, and vibrantly depicts the wildlife and landscapes of many amazing locations around the world. Working in oils, acrylics and pastels, she maintains a particular focus on shape and colour, and her unique, bold style is easily recognisable.

As daughter of the renowned conservationist and artist Sir Peter Scott, and granddaughter of polar explorer Robert “Scott of the Antarctic,” a life of travel and a passion for art and nature was inevitable. As well as training and working as a zoologist she learned to draw under the guidance of her father, going on to study at Oxford College of Further Education, and later under Robin Child at the Lydgate Art Research Centre.

Although her finished works are often on a fairly large scale, they begin as sketches done in the field when something in nature has caught her eye. She has travelled extensively in Africa, Antarctica, and of course here in the UK, and it’s from these varied landscapes and their native wildlife that she draws her inspiration.
In 1991 she was elected a member of the Society of Wildlife Artists; in 2014 she won the Birdwatch/Swarovski prize at the SWLA’s annual Natural Eye exhibition, and in 2017 she won the RSPB award. She was also made Artist in Residence for the Scott Polar Research Institute in 2012, and throughout her life has made numerous other contributions to the worlds of both art and conservation.