… must be better than viewing online, right? A selection of the mounted originals are still available to see in the gallery until the new year several of which are not on our website. Do take the opportunity to see them face to face while you can.
Birds
All Hallows Eve
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 […]
A lucky find
I was recently contacted by someone asking for more details about a picture they had found by a bin, liked a lot, and taken home. It was nicely framed but not showing a signature on the front, luckily it had a small label stuck on the back saying that the artist was John Busby and […]
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 […]
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 […]
Arlequin Birdwatching guides
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 […]
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 […]
‘The Gannet’
I recently came across some seabird prints that I thought I recognised. A little sleuthing showed that they were illustrations from The Gannet by J Bryan Nelson, published by T&AD Poyser in 1978 (1st ed). Unlike his previous publications The Gannet was written for the general ornithologist and bird watcher. Nelson “tried to make this monograph […]