Land Marks and Sea Wings “The author’s photograph used on the dust jacket for this lovely volume of paintings depicts the artist looking a remarkable twenty to thirty years younger than his true age. Perhaps it’s this famous vitality that has allowed John Busby, now well into his eighth decade, to sustain a reputation as […]
Landscape for a Hunting Kestrel
Very many of Dad’s big landscapes put the viewer on a high point looking down, often looking across from one side of a valley to the other, or in the case of the many rock pool paintings, looking vertically down. Here we are so high above the landscape looking down that we have no view […]
Biography
John Philip Busby (1928 – 2015) Artist, writer, teacher and naturalist John Philip Busby was born in Bradford in 1928 and attended Ilkley Grammar School. After National Service, he studied at Leeds College of Art and then at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) where he was awarded post-graduate and major travel scholarships. On return from […]
Ascent of Pigeons 1952
“I keep pigeons: they’re not pigeons” I found this black and white photo in a scrapbook alongside a newspaper cutting of an exhibition. The reviewer liked the picture ‘for its colour, sense of space and movement. (This in spite of a fancier who insisted on telling me, “I keep pigeons: they’re not pigeons”). Sadly there […]
Bursary application deadline 30th November 2017
The deadline for applications for the SWLA bursaries is fast approaching. These generous bursaries cover the fees for the course and a contribution towards living expenses for the week. Details are on the SWLA website. NOTE: places on this very well regarded course fill up very quickly. If you are considering going do get […]
Twelve Winded Sky – update
I recently came across archive material relating to this big picture and others that John Busby painted in those early years. In my grandfather’s scrapbooks dating back to the 1950’s were newspaper cuttings and exhibition programmes, receipts and letters relating to his son’s early career– a fascinating glimpse into the different world that is […]
New additions to the Gallery
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1940’s birdwatching map
I recently found this map of various walks around Menston in Yorkshire which John had annotated with delicate drawings of the different species of birds he saw. The family estimate that this was drawn up in the mid 1940’s when John was a teenager. In his book Land Marks and Sea Wings he wrote this about his […]
Twelve Winded Sky
This early oil painting by John Busby was recently returned to the family by the Don Valley Academy in Doncaster where it had been hanging for very many years. The date of the picture, 1956, is the same as the opening of the school so it may have been commissioned for it [See Update]. When the […]
Obituary – British Birds, Sept 2015
For many, the name John Busby is synonymous with acute observations of nature and an enviable ability to capture character, light and movement in just a few simple lines and washes. His work was born from first-hand experience of nature and, as is the case with the very best artists, it encourages fresh ways of […]