In celebration of John’s life and work, the family offer this short film on the fifth anniversary of his death. We feel particularly lucky that he lives on through his pictures and through them we see again the natural world with renewed insight. “The artist’s job is to open eyes – to see what is […]
Biography
Birdwatching 75 years ago
Anyone in or around Menston, Yorks, like to re-create this birdwatching walk? It is part of a larger map drawn by John as a teenager in the late 1940’s. Swallows, cuckoos, linnets, willow warblers, skylarks all there then. What would we find today? See original post here
Biography
John Philip Busby (1928 – 2015) 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 France and Italy he was […]
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 […]
Not Just Hockney
The wonderful website www.NotJustHockney.info celebrates the very large number of professional artists born or associated with the city of Bradford, in Yorkshire and of course John Busby was born in the city in 1928, nine years before David Hockney RA. BUSBY, John: ‘My Art’ The local wildlife artist, John Busby, died in 2015. He was […]
Tributes to John Busby – Society of Wildlife Artists
“…He was a founder member of the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) and was also External Assessor for Natural History Illustration at the Royal College of Art, 1989-92 and again in 2000. In 1989 he began a Seabird Drawing course based at North Berwick which has continued every year since, and he has led courses […]
Obituary – The Times 11 July 2015
John Busby, wildlife and landscape artist, writer and teacher Speed of observation was essential to much of John Busby’s wildlife art. It allowed him, for example, to capture the precise millisecond when, say, a peregrine braked before striking its prey. “His drawings appear to have been cut from the sky with a few strokes of […]
Obituary – Scotsman 10 July 2015
by Darren Woodhead “One cannot draw or paint ‘what one sees’ in front of one without being aware of what is happening on the page or canvas in the process. However fascinating the subject matter, we need equal fascination with the whole business of making marks with which, in a childlike way, we can identify. […]
Obituary – Guardian 29 June 2015
By Stephen Moss ” ‘My work is rooted in landscape and in the living birds and animals as they are part of it. I aim to show how creatures move and to express the visual delight they bring. I try to combine accuracy with artistry.’ So the wildlife artist John Busby, who has died aged […]