This haunting drawing of a Barn Owl is an illustration from “Birds by Night” by Graham Martin. John was asked for ‘an owl on a skull’ for the frontispiece, but countering that that was a very unlikely combination to be found in nature, offered this picture. The Barn Owl, full of life, perches on a […]
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Rock pools and the coast
The North Sea coastline of East Lothian has the most interesting layers of coloured rocks: sandstones, limestones and red conglomerate rocks with lines of quartz and basalt lava from the volcanic activity of many million years ago. John had a fascination with rock pools since childhood. He has written about it several times in his […]
New exhibition June and July 2023
It was a lovely exhibition and I do hope you were able to see it. Some of the pictures sold I have put in the Recently Sold gallery, and I hope to start a new gallery of Framed Pictures soon so that you can see the others. —————- We’re just in the last stages of […]
Searching for otters
A recent request for ‘any little pencil drawings of otters not already on the website’ saw me in the studio gingerly opening the drawer marked “Mostly mammals”. As I have written before, John had several chests of architect’s plan drawers to accommodate sketches, unframed watercolours, old illustrations and the like. Although shallow at only about […]
Birthday95
On Thursday 2nd Feb. 2023 John would have been 95 years old. In celebration of his work we are offering a selection of his drawings and paintings for £95 only and a 10% reduction on other original pictures in our online shop. This special sale will run from Thursday 2nd Feb. 2023 for one week […]
30 years for the Biebrza marshes
In 1992 in its second expedition, the Artists for Nature Foundation (ANF) working with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) sent 32 international artists, including John Busby, to the Biebrza Marshes in Poland. Only three years earlier the area had been designated a Landscape Park and the Biebrza Society were working hard to transform the status […]
New Additions
Here are some of the newest additions to the website – enjoy! Those with a BUY NOW button are available from our online shop. The others won’t be far behind but please contact us to discuss options, particularly if you need international delivery. click on picture for details
Jordan bird illustrations
In 1995 John was asked to illustrate the then definitive guide to birding in Jordan, Ian J Andrews’ Birds of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Full of photos by the author, John’s illustrations add a depth of interest and drew on his experience of the country in the 1970’s and 1990’s. As always his illustrations show […]
Not just watercolours
Although this website is mostly concerned with John’s watercolours and drawings, he also drew birds in oils and pastels. Here are just a few to whet your appetite. Click on the pictures to bring up the details.
Ever tried Nature Journaling?
Keeping a visual diary is something that may appeal to you and there are many sources of encouragement from the books of Claire Walker Leslie, a pioneer in the field and a long time friend of John Busby to the online videos and teaching of John Muir Laws in California. Here is John Muir Laws […]