In the 1990’s and early 2000’s Arlequin Press published a large number of Birdwatching Guides to different areas, with suggestions for places to go, birds to see and, of course, a tick-list of possible species to cross off one’s lifetime list. The publishing house was set up to offer limited edition wildlife art books (starting […]
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One good tern deserves…
Seven good terns! These lovely pen and wash drawings were found bundled together in the studio. They are all initialled and are likely to be illustrations for a book but I don’t know which one. Then I found this guide to Farne Island Birds with very similar illustrations, so our terns might have been for […]
PPP Penguins
These cute behavioural studies of penguins are from a worthy monograph on the subject by Tony D Williams published in 1995 by Oxford University Press [not to be confused with a later monograph published by Poyser!] Designed for the ‘professional scientist and the serious amateur ornithologist’ it was part of a series on Bird Families […]
Dust bathing sparrows
In early 1946, when he was 17, John won the RSPB’s Junior Bird Recorders’ Club annual drawing competition. He told me once it was with a picture of a sparrow dust-bathing, so I was particularly delighted to come across this (much later) picture recently. John delighted in observing and drawing bird behaviours. His book Looking […]
Farfield Meeting House (and Studio)
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 […]
Artist’s cards – and the originals
Artist’s cards are now available to buy individually, or to make up your own set of six. They feature a range of John’s work from his seabirds to mammals, owls and eagles, as well as field and garden birds. Many are also illustrations from his books, Lines from Nature and Land Marks and Sea Wings. […]
BIRDscapes Exhibition 5-20 March 2022
We are very pleased to say that a considerable number of John’s works will be exhibited at the BIRDscapes Gallery in Holt, Norfolk next month. Over 30 framed and mounted pictures have been sent down south to be part of the ‘Collectors Exhibition’. As well as the opportunity to see John’s pictures in reality and […]
A new project
Happy New Year to everyone and a big welcome to all our new followers. Just to let you know that my new project will be to add more of the original drawings from ‘Looking at Birds’ to the website. Some are already here in the book illustration gallery but there are plenty more in my […]
An animated Flipbook for you!
The first of three flip books showing the Alphabet pictures. Click on links on back pages to see all three booklets [alternatively go direct to the Alphabet blog here]
U is for…(U,V,W,X,Y,Z)
U is for… unidentified (!) As a fairly hopeless birder compared to John there are always going to be some drawings that I can’t identify. Here’s a few where I need your help – thank you, hive-mind! see also Avocets to Egrets (A,B,C,D,E) Fairy Terns to Jackass Penguins (F,G,H,I,J) Kentish Plovers to Ospreys (K,L,M,N,O) […]