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John Busby, Artist

Landscape and wildlife artist, illustrator and author

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Birds

PPP Penguins

May 22, 2022

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 […]

Filed Under: Birds - otherwise uncategorised, Blog, Publications

Dust bathing sparrows

May 12, 2022

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 […]

Filed Under: Birds, Early Works Tagged With: Every picture tells a story

U is for…(U,V,W,X,Y,Z)

November 24, 2021

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)  […]

Filed Under: Birds, Blog, Pictures

P is for… (P,Q,R,S,T)

November 19, 2021

P  is for… Pochard, Peregrine chasing Red Grouse and Puffins on Fidra A winter visitor, the pochard  feeds on seeds, waterweed, snails and other aquatic invertebrates below the water’s surface, so quite appropriately seen here underwater. The peregrine is very much a bird of the air. This one is an illustration in Lines from Nature […]

Filed Under: Animals and other wildlife, Birds, Blog, Pictures

K is for… (K,L,M,N,O)

November 14, 2021

K is for… Kentish Plovers, Kittiwakes and Kilnsey Crag, Wharfedale Sketches of Kentish plovers doing what these elegant little birds like to do best and John’s favourite gull, the Kittiwake, “riding the air current at a sea cliff effortlessly, making subtle changes to body and wing shapes and keeping their centre of gravity in balance […]

Filed Under: Birds, Blog, Pictures

F is for… more pictures (F,G,H,I,J)

November 9, 2021

F is for…  Fairy tern, fox and flounder This fairy tern Gygis alba, also known as the white tern, was drawn during a dramatic trip to the Aldabra atoll in the Seychelles in 1974 (see Land Marks and Sea Wings Chapter 4). It is so beautiful and delicate against the blue sky. These are not […]

Filed Under: Birds, Blog, Pictures

A is for… an alphabetic showcase

November 4, 2021

A is for…  Avocets, Alpine Gentian and Aldabra kestrels What a spectacular way to start this alphabetic journey through John’s work – a colony of avocets on the wing.  Beautiful birds and a such a symbol of conservation success they are now the logo for the RSPB.  Over half the breeding pairs in the UK […]

Filed Under: Birds, Blog, Pictures Tagged With: Aldabra, Falklands, The Herald

Birds in your Garden

January 20, 2021

As we come up to the RSPB’s Big Garden Bird Watch  can I recommend again this delightful book published 1989 and currently available very cheaply on the secondhand book market? It is full of wonderful illustrations by John, many in full colour and takes you through a whole year in your garden with ideas for […]

Filed Under: Birds - otherwise uncategorised, Blog, Pictures, Publications

Scottish Wildlife print

November 18, 2020

£50 each +p&p    37 x 41 cm unmounted. There are quite a few architects’ plan drawers in the studio. Wide and shallow they could hold enormous sheets of paper and are ideal for the sketches and unmounted original  watercolours they hold now.  Every so often I delve into the drawers and emerge with some […]

Filed Under: Animals and other wildlife, Birds - otherwise uncategorised, Landscapes, Pictures

Look what I found !

October 12, 2020

Remounting this lovely watercolour of Manx Shearwaters recently I came across a pencil sketch of coastal waters with seals and a small Hebridean style boat on the back.  Which picture would you display? £450 in double mount 40 x 50 cm  buy now  from the shop.

Filed Under: Seabirds

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