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 […]
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artist support pledge
Until the end of March 2021 all our ‘standard mounted’ pictures (those selling at £200 or under) will be sold under the #Artistsupportpledge. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many artists have found themselves without work as teaching, technical support, fairs, and exhibitions have been cancelled or curtailed due to lockdown and social distancing. The concept […]
Chamois
Chamois, the delightful goat-antelopes found in European mountains from the Pyrenees to the Caucasus. These pictures came from a visit to Les Ecrins National Park in south-eastern France in April 1996. In his book Lines from Nature John wrote, “Snow fragments make precise shapes against the darker colours and textures of the screes, yet they […]
Quiet reflections
A Little Grebe paddles purposefully on a still lake. The bow-wave and wake reflect the light still in the evening sky. This is one of several similar pictures we still have capturing quiet moments on still water. The depiction of movement and stillness is quite special in my mind. John himself said, “Water puts all […]
Who are you looking at?
Gulls are known as bold creatures and the bane of many tourist hot-spots. This one is certainly giving us a hard stare, he may be about to fly off, but he’ll be back! Most birds are more wary, peering out from behind rocks, or deep inside vegetation, pictures may not show much of the physical […]
Fairy Tern
A delicate all-white Fairy Tern (Gygis alba) flies in an azure sky, somewhere over the Seychelles or Aldabra atoll. Bright sunlight makes its wings almost transparent. These little birds are relatively common across the tropical oceans of the world despite their daft parenting practices. The female lays an egg on a bare branch and then […]
Chiffchaff, The Proud Songster
This little illustration was labelled “Proud Songster” and while not specifically mentioned in the poem of the same name by Thomas Hardy, John obviously felt that this Chiffchaff was doing its bit to fill our days with birdsong. Pen and wash drawing 13 x 11cm £100 available from Birdscapes Gallery One of the pleasures […]
See the Wind
What a wind today! Only a few birds spotted while out walking and those keeping close to the ground. It’s not easy to depict the wind on paper but here’s a windy bird picture of Lapwing and Ringed plovers in a strong wind by the Master Wildlife Artist, John Busby. In his book Looking at […]
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
Landscape Looking
John Busby taught for thirty years at the Edinburgh School of Art so I was not surprised to find this handout amongst his papers. Created for his third year Painting and Drawing students it tries to get them to see beyond the merely visual, to really look, with understanding, at the processes that form the […]