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John Busby, Artist

Landscape and wildlife artist, illustrator and author

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Biography

Farfield Meeting House (and Studio)

May 5, 2022

Farfield Friends Meeting House near Addingham in West Yorkshire is now in the keeping of the Historic Chapels’ Trust   www.hca.org.uk but in the late 1950’s and early 60’s John rented it as a studio at a time when he was unsure whether to stay in Edinburgh (where he was teaching at the Edinburgh College of […]

Filed Under: Biography, Blog, Early Works

In celebration

June 10, 2020

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 […]

Filed Under: Biography, Blog, Pictures

Birdwatching 75 years ago

May 19, 2020

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

Filed Under: Biography, Birds, Blog, Early Works

Biography

April 23, 2018

photo of John Philip Busby with blue sea and sky behind

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 […]

Filed Under: Biography

Obituary – British Birds, Sept 2015

November 14, 2016

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 […]

Filed Under: Biography

Not Just Hockney

June 29, 2016

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 […]

Filed Under: Biography

Tributes to John Busby – Society of Wildlife Artists

April 23, 2016

“…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 […]

Filed Under: Biography

Obituary – The Times 11 July 2015

April 23, 2016

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 […]

Filed Under: Biography

Obituary – Scotsman 10 July 2015

April 23, 2016

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. […]

Filed Under: Biography

Obituary – Guardian 29 June 2015

April 23, 2016

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 […]

Filed Under: Biography

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