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Favourite Bird Artist (1 Viewer)

There are many great artists, and I know few of more artistic types.

Probably Ian Lewington for his stylised lbjs. Amazing how much character one can put into Garden Warbler.

Chris Rose is also very good. His woodpeckers make you crave to look closer and turn the page to see the habitat behind.

I also admire some old fashioned XVIII-XIX century paintings with bird on the background of jungle-covered gorges and mountains. Makes you dream of the old times when wilderness was still impassable and full of wild beasts. :)
 
Scientist and artist.

I appreciate Doug Pratt both for his art and particulary for his continuing contribution to the science of Pacific Avifauna (Hawaiian birds, Pacific field guide, Hawaii bird finding guides, soon to come more illustrations and field guides for oceania?).
 
so many good ones, but Ian Lewington is my favorite, but I also feel Tim Worfolk is great and so is Larry McQueen. Others include John Cox, James Coe, Killian Mullarney, Thomas Schultz, John Schmidt, Peter Burke...well, I could go on but I'll quit before I get to carried away.
 
There might be some better artist for me out there, but at the moment my favourite bird artist is Martin Ridley. I like his work because of the mood he creates; not based on how accurate his drawing of birds are.

He creates these wonderful oil paintings, and uses lighting effects in them. It just makes me feel good. You can look at his site by doing a google image search for wildlife paintings, it should be the first one.

Cheers, Mark
 
John Marshall said:
My thread on the 28 Oct 03' still stands, for wildfowl Peter Scott supreme and Martin Ridley still extra special.

HI JOHN ,
HOPE YOUR KEEPING WELL , MARTIN RIDLEYS PAINTING FIRST ARRIVALS , GREAT PAINTING OF PINKS ,
TWO OTHER PAINTERS I LIKE ARE SIMON TRINDER AND JULIAN NOVERLL , I HAVE A PAINTING WHICH SIMON PAINTED FOR ME ITS PINKS COMING OF BOB HALL SANDS FLYING OVER LONG WATER WITH THE EAST HILLS IN THE BACKGROUND ,
READ YOUR POST THAT YOU KNEW KENSIE , HAVE THE BOOK ABOUT HIS LIFE HE SURE WAS A RUM OLD BOY ,
I WONDER IF MANKA IS STILL AT WIGTOWN BAY OR IF HE HAS MADE HIS WAY BACK TO ICELAND YET, LIKE YOU I HOPE HE RETURNS TO NORFOLK .
TAKE CARE JOHN .
REGARDS DEREKJAKE.
 
Surprising not to see any Mention of John Busby on this thread. Probably the best since Ennion for depicting bird movement. His book Birds in Mallorca is worth seeking out as are his books on how to draw birds.
I was trying to work out why I found Lars Jonsson's Birds and Light slightly dissapointing and I think it is that although the bird portraiture is excellent, almost all the birds are static. Also the frequently convoluted text.
I'd also mention Kim Atkinson, I haven't seen a lot of her work but she produces some challenging and adventurous work. A picture of hers appeared in the RSPB Birds magazine a while back of birds in a stubble field that caught my eye.
A couple of examples of her work appear in Modern Wildlife Painting by Nicholas Hammond. I'd recommend this book as it covers a wide range of artists and styles. I got it from the Birdnet website at Xmas for half price £17.50, I think. Its still advertised there, but it doesn't seem to have been revised for some time so you would have to check availability
 
I have to say my favourite bird artist is the late Frank Jarvis - who passed away in the last five years - he has helped write and illustrate several books on Birds - Guide to Birds of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore is one I can think of - He also had his own Studio - but without a doubt he was a really loverly guy
 
Worth a look

Hello to you all,

I'm from Canada and just want you to take a look at one great artist we have here. As a painter his only subjects are birds. The name is Jean-Luc Grondin and I assure you that his work is really worth a look. Some of his work is absolutely breathtaking, the movement in his paintings is unsurpassed and the precision of his touch is magnificient, the details... Well, no words would give an acurate testimony. Have simply a look. You will be glad you did. Go to this site for a sample : www.artandnature.com/grondin.html

Enjoy!

Periscope
 
The latest Eric Ennion publication from the Wildlife Art Gallery is pretty sensational.

I have 5 or 6 Keith Brockie books, but what has happened to him? I've not heard anything of him for 7 or 8 years.
 
William T Cooper

Mike D said:
Mine is without a doubt the late Dr Eric Ennion.

His straight-line representation and ability to capture the essence of the bird - - - - leaves me speachless! He had the ability to capture the feeling of the bird.

Tunnicliffe is excellent, no argument. But to capture the feeling of the wader on the saltmarsh I don't need to see every single feather. No, just the way I normally see the real live bird.

Dr. E.A.R. Ennion used to illustrate the old Bird Notes for the RSPB and I wish I had saved some of the copies I received. Ah well, hindsight!

The reception area on Brownsea Island had (and may still have) several originals of EARE's work. I am not of criminal leanings, but if I were - watch out Brownsea!


William Cooper supplied the illustrations for the book on parrots by Joseph Forshaw. He has also done work for books on kingfishers and the like, birds of paradise, and a set of prints of turacos (not as a book)
 
I recently picked up a Gem of abook at a Warwick second hand bookshop,the book in question is called "VANISHING EAGLES" by Philip Burton,and the art work by Trevor boyer is simply stunning,the originals must be quite awsome.
 
On a slightly different angle I like Guy Taplin - his work isn't all that representational but for me it has that something.
 
missed artist

The artists mentioned so far are great, found a few I never heard of and some of the works i have seen through the links supplied in the thread are stunning. One of my favourites has been missed though. Christopher Pope. An austrlian guy, paints birds nearly exclusivly. I have a couple of the limited edition prints and an original and the detail and colour is supurb. I found his personal site at http://cbpart.atspace.com/ some nice paintings, though being new to this I cant't say how stylised they are compared to the real bird.
 
Favourite bird artist

Choosing your favourite bird artist is almost like choosing your favourite bird. There are so many of them and many are so good.
From the nineteenth century there are J.G.Keulemans, J.Smit and H.Gronvold. Combined they depicted almost every new bird species described in that period. Their illustrations are wonderful, small hand-coloured lithographs with warm, old tones, so to speak. It makes them quite collectible. From that time I like the work of John Goulds' team the most:William Hart, Henry Richter and the ultimate illustrator of the time Joseph Wolf. The plates Wolf made for D.G.Elliots monograph on the pheasants are most stunning. Call me a lucky devil but as I write this down and look to my left I see a fine exemple of these plates.
Moving on to the twentieth (and-first) century, the first artist to come out of that period who I think is extraordinary is David Reid Henry. His work perfectly balances the romance of the nineteenth century with the taxanomical accuracy of his time. He died way too soon. Of the current artists I particularly like Chris Rose, Ian Lewington and David Quinn among many others.
However. The one who takes the price of the all time greatest bird artist, at least as far as I'm concerned, is: William T. Cooper. Most of you will know him for his illustrations in monographs on parrots, birds of paradise/bowerbirds, kingfishers etc. They are done very much in the style of Goulds' team. Indeed, Jozeph Wolf may be his number one idol. But you should see his oils. It's like seeing a bird painting done by Vermeer. An incredible combination of sence of detail and of colour, set in a surrounding filled with marvellous little wonders in leaves, mosses, lichens, water drops etc., etc. And then the backgrounds. Forest clad mountains with misty valleys. It is all so complete and so well done. If only I could own one such painting...
 
Thank you Mike for this wonderful thread, I wonder how I missed it before. Now I have so many terrific artists to entertain me on these foggy winter days. There are two artists not mentioned yet and they just happen to be my favourites. Who hasn't seen the wonderful bird art of Walter A Weber in all those old National Geographic magazines, and I wonder how many of the up-and-comming bird artists have tried to emulate those fantastic pictures painted by Basil Ede, To me his art surpasses all others but I will have to hold my judgement for a while until I have seen the art of all these new ones from the list on this thread. Will get back to you later with my report. Thanks Mike.
 
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