Derric Elmo van Rensburg was born in 1952 in Cape Town.  It all started at the age of ten when he did his first pencil drawing, and his career later followed the commercial and manufacturing world of the creative arts. He moved to teaching art before becoming a professional artist in 1986. Derric is a trend-setter continuously developing new techniques and new genres. His first exhibition was held in Cape Town in 1978 and was sold out within a few days. Since then he has exhibited regularly in South Africa, and also successfully in Portugal, England, Italy, Australia and Germany.

Most of his commissions are placed by multinational corporate clients and his art is being marketed and sold all over the world.   He is not a man of many words, prefers to keep in the background and lives close to the mountains and the sea in Betty's Bay, on the Western Cape coastline of South Africa. This peaceful and beautiful environment bordering the internationally declared Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve is extremely conducive to his creativity with paint and brushes on canvas. He started his career as a wildlife artist painting in watercolors and fast gained recognition as a highly talented artist. He uses acrylic because its spontaneity suits his style. Working almost exclusively in acrylics, his work is highly decorative, reflecting a bold impressionistic style.

An elusive enigma, Derric van Rensburg is nonetheless one of South Africa's most popular landscape and wildlife artists. Van Rensburg's art is founded in the creativity of an environment conscious person, able to combine the virtues of the abstract non-figurative art with the system of 'Earthscape'. He is probably South Africa's most prolific and versatile artist, with his unmistakable trademark of bright colors and broad brush strokes, evident in each of his paintings.