Artist Profile
I was born in the east Lincolnshire fens, close to Gibralter Point in 1964. Always fascinated by the natural world, doodling from an early age invariably involved wacky wildlife pics, the seeds had been sown. Moving to Leicester in the early seventies initially thwarted any ambitions of artistic pursuit. I was a blessed athlete and took up cross- country and long distance running from an early age. A serious injury whilst running for the county put a stop to it, for all though the injury healed, the nine months gap and the discovery of avian wonders on my local patch made the decision for me. I trained birds of prey for a while and visited childhood haunts on the east coast whenever time, mum or my hitching thumb allowed. I developed a very naïve wooden style, filling notebooks with thumbnails and identification notes, never really going beyond this stage. Inspired by the works of Richard Richardson, Charles Tunnicliffe and John Busby, I tried and failed with different techniques to capture what I saw.
In the early eighties I discovered my own book of “Revelations”, a recently published Penguin nature guide “The Birds of Wood, Park and Garden” by an artist called Lars Jonsson. I still remember that day now, it was like being hit by a lightning bolt, shaking as I turned each page. Here for the first time where paintings of birds, so alive and real, just as I saw them, it was the dawn of a new era!
I pursued art and science in college and went on to finish an excellent year’s foundation course at Leicester Polytechnic, now De Montfort University. The next bit was a rather long-winded affair and disillusioned by a lack of inspirational degree courses and poor advice, I took a year out and went birding. In between trips I painted birds, some commission, some commercial but the latter was hardly development.
A job acceptance as a conservation education officer/illustrator at Twycross Zoo in the East Midlands (incidentally Europe’s largest collection of rare primates) was a really good move. For the next six years I developed with an optimistic team, ideas for interactive displays, conservation campaigns and total immersion exhibits. With a large collection of breeding Marmosets and Tamarins out of one studio window and Giraffe and Elephant the other, inspiration was easy. My mates where apes, dining partners young hand reared animals, drinking buddies fellow enthusiasts, basically I lived and breathed wildlife.
Artist secondments to aid and teach International fieldworkers at the International Centre for Conservation Education (ICCE) in the Cotswolds, UK for their summer and autumn courses broadened my horizons further. Contacts gained through these placements have proved priceless.
A chance encounter with Cameroon staff from the then International Council for Bird Preservation (ICBP) led to several months in 1988 working in the Bamenda Highlands to implement the plan to protect the fabulous Bannerman’s Turaco and other threatened species. I created the logo, painted up the landrover’s and did the odd mural, the locals held the turaco in high esteem so creating an identity for the project was relatively easy.
During my time in Cameroon, I visited many sites, sketching and painting the wildlife I observed. The rockfowl story is elsewhere, but a visit to Mount Kupe changed my life forever. The Mount Kupe Bush-shrike, an enigmatic red data species had disappeared almost as soon as it had been discovered in the early 1950’s and despite a series of attempts to relocate it, all had failed. The forest was intact and the local people very warm and welcoming and despite some serious conservation issues, it was my idea of heaven. I tried to get an expedition team of two ornithologists, a primatologist and herpetologist there the following year but failed to raise the necessary funds. A good friend of mine, Duncan McNiven rediscovered the bird in 1989 and with the flagship species in place, the funds were raised to pursue it the following year. We figured that the best chance to locate and study many of Kupe’s key species was during the beginning of the rainy season, which proved correct as towards the end of our survey we were seeing the shrike on an almost daily basis. A fledgling project was born.
I painted a huge Mount Kupe Bush-shrike on the walls of the school as well as a couple of threatened primate species, much to the delight of the locals. Follow up trips, a logo and more murals depicting the wealth and diversity of the mountain as well as art classes in the local schools was beginning to instil a sense of pride in the local community.
Requests to take visiting birdwatchers around Cameroon soon came in and my fledgling career as a wildlife tour leader as well as artist began. After a spell taking Sunbird/Wings clients around Cameroon, I joined WildWings who allow me to combine both travel and art with a happy balance but regularly tempt me with fabulous trips.
During this period I was also fairly active in the Middle East, and served full term as a member of the Ornithological Society of the Middle East (OSME) council as publicity officer, illustrating numerous articles and campaign’s . On retirement I got together with fellow enthusiasts, to form the African Bird Club (ABC) on whose council I served six years as art editor before stepping down a year ago.
Painting trips and meetings with fellow artists are a never-ending inspiration. I’m grateful to all who have offered support, advice or taken me under their wing as it were. Bruce Pearson in particular deserves special mention as his enthusiasm for life, sheer joy in his painting and boundless support for young artists is admirable.
I have illustrated numerous books and material for conservation campaigns and awareness programmes particularly for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Birdlife International (UK, Indonesia and Seychelles). Cover paintings for ABC, OSME, Birding World amongst others have been welcome diversions.
Published Work includes:
Where to watch birds in Eastern Europe – Gerard Gorman / Hamlyn
The Marsh Harrier – Roger Clarke
The Chiffchaff – Peter Clement
Important Bird Areas in the Middle East – Mike Evans/Birdlife International
Important Bird Areas in Africa and Associated Islands – Lincoln Fishpool/Birdlife International
Birds of Madagascar – Pete Morris and Frank Hawkins
Birds of the Seychelles – Adrian Skerret, Bob Bullock and Tony Disley
Coastal Birds of Ghana – RSPB
I am currently writing and illustrating a new field guide to the Mammals of Africa for the publisher Collins. Hopefully this will be finished soon but you can see some of the plates in my galleries section.
I have visited nearly forty countries in search of birds and mammals and regularly lead tours to Cameroon, China and Brazil. I have soft spots for Antarctica, Surinam and Trinidad and Tobago, where I’ve done stints at ASA Wright and Blue Waters as artist in residence as well as in Israel in similar circumstances. I have many targets yet to see, an interest in big cats, particularly panthera means I have a way to go yet. Close encounters with Jaguar has opened a challenge to see as many of these wonderful creatures as possible, the ultimate perhaps the elusive Snow Leopard, hopefully coming soon! Many wonderful encounters with rare and elusive primates especially on the African continent continues to fuel further plans to see more. I would thoroughly recommend a visit to observe the Mountain Gorillas in their highland home, it remains one of the highlights of my life so far. I spent an unexpected hour with a large group that came to see me on a dirt track in Uganda, the Silverback sitting alongside, only a few feet away for the whole period!
A recent trip to watch the late autumn migration of Siberian Cranes in China has had a remarkable effect. I saw seven species of crane on their annual migration south including the three magnificent ‘sibe’ cranes, Siberian, Japanese and White-naped. Their evocative calls, the teaching of migration routes, the age old wisdom of healthy staging areas just add to their magic. These “Birds of Heaven” will no doubt begin to feature in a number of planned oil paintings later this year.
