So exciting to see John’s exhibition is now online AND the gallery is open so you can see the pictures in person too (although book an appointment first). A selection of John’s landscape pictures are on show at the Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh for three weeks until Saturday 22nd May 2021. I’m delighted to say […]
Delving into the sketchbooks
With over a hundred sketchbooks from a lifetime of drawing, John’s archive is a rich source of observations of bird and animal behaviour. As well as drawings of the species observed, he would mark colours, habitat and sometimes note a compositional idea that he might later work up into a finished picture. I have dipped […]
Garden Birds sketchbook
John created this little bird book for his eldest grandchild, then aged 6. While it will remain in the family there are a number of similar pictures that are available for sale (see below). Enjoy!
Birds in your Garden
As we come up to the RSPB’s Big Garden Bird Watch can I recommend again this delightful book published 1989 and currently available very cheaply on the secondhand book market? It is full of wonderful illustrations by John, many in full colour and takes you through a whole year in your garden with ideas for […]
Silk scarves – a new venture
Super soft and printed with some of John’s magnificent abstract oil landscapes we’re really excited about these silk scarves. Just six samples were made and three of them have gone already, so if you are interested don’t leave it too late! See Shop here These scarves are printed on light silk satin and finished with […]
At SOC Aberlady this December…and January….and February…
The Scottish Ornithologists’ Club (SOC) at Aberlady are holding these original watercolours and drawings by John Busby. Prices range from £130 to £450. A special present to treat yourself or someone else? Although currently closed (Jan 2021) the gallery will reopen at some point probably Thurs to Sunday as before – see SOC website If […]
Scottish Wildlife print
£50 each +p&p 37 x 41 cm unmounted. There are quite a few architects’ plan drawers in the studio. Wide and shallow they could hold enormous sheets of paper and are ideal for the sketches and unmounted original watercolours they hold now. Every so often I delve into the drawers and emerge with some […]
Look what I found !
Remounting this lovely watercolour of Manx Shearwaters recently I came across a pencil sketch of coastal waters with seals and a small Hebridean style boat on the back. Which picture would you display? £450 in double mount 40 x 50 cm buy now from the shop.
Silent cliffs and restless water
“The contrast between silent cliffs and restless water offer powerful pictorial dynamics for an artist, as do the changes of light and shade and the air full of circling birds. The cliffs are a frontier between us and the horizon – to the seabirds, they are a necessary foothold on which to nest; a vertical […]
New additions – hares
In his book Lines from Nature, John wrote, “Boxing hares in spring present a challenge to catch the movement. Often they are too engrossed in their rivalry to be alarmed by a watcher. Hares seem so much more alive and intelligent than rabbits, or is that just my prejudice against the pests that invade our […]