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Wildlife art heroes? (1 Viewer)

Vectis Birder

Itchy feet
Who are your 'heroes' in wildlife art? Anyone, living or dead?
For me, the greatest is the incomparable Lars Jonsson. I love his work, especially his watercolours and his sketchbooks.

I am also a fan of the late Eric Ennion and Sir Peter Scott.
 
Sir Peter scott without a doubt! As a teenager I bought alot of his books with his sketches in and he is the inspiration behind alot of my wildfowl and wader flight photography.
 
Now there's a question! I suppose my heroes change over time, but there are four artists whose 'style' I've tried to emulate (in my own way): Lars Jonsson, Mike Warren, Bruce Pearson and Eric Ennion. Lars - 'nuff said - the master. Mike, beautiful sense of design and colour and composition, though I wish he'd realise that not all birds are tear-drop shaped! (Personal grudge after he said that Ennion couldn't get birds' shapes right (!!!)) Bruce, having watched him work, there is such excitement in what he does, very much an inspiration for my manic painting frenzies (though I guess he drinks less than me). Ennion - the other master, his flawless differentiation between necessary and superfluous, and the fact his birds are always doing something!

The list can (and will) go on. Darren Rees' Bird Impressions was a great inspiration, wish I was capable of such clean watercolours. James McCallum's fieldwork just makes me jealous as hell as I never see scenes like he does. David Bennet manages to put so much 'reality' with so little effort (though some of his oils look a little 'lost') John Busby, another master, his birds are 'liquid' and living, plus he is a very nice person. Kim Atkinson - very exciting stuff as is the work of Nik Pollard and Greg Poole. Peter Scott is excellent, less of an inspiration for me than some of the others, but the works that do inspire me, inspire me very strongly indeed. Liljefors produced some stunning work (shame a lot of it was made from shot birds tied to trees!) but his legendary Black-throated Divers and Sea Eagles hunting Eiders, are, well, legendary. John Paige is a great inspiration (and a comfort) as he plays with all media, he doesn't have one single style. (I sometimes look at my work and think, nobody's going to think these are by the same person), I met him at the birdfair many years ago, he was very keen to look through my portfolio and talk art.

Plus all of you on here are a great source of inspiration, as I've said before, I've learned so much by following all our different techniques and inspirations.

And there's probably more to add, but my computer's starting to run out of ink!
 
Greg Poole

Quiet office, busy forum today!

Nick- that mention of Greg Poole is interesting- when you were posting selections recently I was thinking about (but not posting about, for fear of appearing arsey) how your branches/reeds often lie in a plane across the painting in a lattice which reminded me of Greg Poole (e.g. his winter oak branches over kites, a print of which sits happily on my wall). The prompt for the thought was that the Moorhen pic which is a beauty (for sale?) struck me as different in that the ?pipe they are sitting on runs strongly from front to back of the painting, making for a deeper painting.

As for the subject of this thread, my little list would have firmly and predictably on it Ennion, Jonsson, Warren, McCallum...and the lately neglected Gunnar Brusewitz.
 
. James McCallum's fieldwork just makes me jealous as hell as I never see scenes like he does.

Eric Ennion did it for me as a child, Tunnicliffe also - I'm fortunate to see James from time to time and watch him work...a lovely unassuming young man/great birder and very talented artist with the minimun of brush or pencil strokes.

Also Terence J Bond but he is a bit expensive!
 
Quiet office, busy forum today!

Nick- that mention of Greg Poole is interesting- when you were posting selections recently I was thinking about (but not posting about, for fear of appearing arsey) how your branches/reeds often lie in a plane across the painting in a lattice which reminded me of Greg Poole (e.g. his winter oak branches over kites, a print of which sits happily on my wall). The prompt for the thought was that the Moorhen pic which is a beauty (for sale?) struck me as different in that the ?pipe they are sitting on runs strongly from front to back of the painting, making for a deeper painting.

As for the subject of this thread, my little list would have firmly and predictably on it Ennion, Jonsson, Warren, McCallum...and the lately neglected Gunnar Brusewitz.


What I think I like the most about Greg's work is that he works a lot from memory, ie he'll watch the bird, then sketch his impressions of it afterwards, there are no hang-ups about it being identifiable, it is pure 'art' (for want of a word that is less ambiguous!). I'm not sure I see the ressemblance between the moorhen (yes, for sale - like all my stuff, just never any buyers!) and his work, but I certainly take it as a compliment. It is a pipe they're sitting on and at first I was going to try and hide it, I suppose I end up doing a lot of flat work, based on patterns and shapes (or I imagine my pictures this way) and putting it in did make all the difference I feel.

How could I have forgotten Tunnicliffe! I feel ashamed of myself now.
Also, yes Gunnar Brusewitz, I've seen very little of his work but admire what I've seen very much.
Barry Van Dusen, Andrew Haslen, and of course, Darren Woodhead and Robert Greenhalf are also additions to my list of inspiration.
 
My list is endless! Robert Bateman is still tops for me but Chris Rose comes close and then there's the greats that have been mentioned already, Ennion, Tunicliffe et al. And the guys like Haslen and Van Dusen, Alastair Proud and John Threlfall and Daniel Cole, and so on and so on ad nauseum.

Woody
 
Gads, so many! But Chris Bacon remains my favourite -- I am completely enthralled by what he does with light! Thomas Anderson has some fascinating work as well, and of course I have to mention Bateman (I'm a Halton gal, they'd string me up if I didn't).

For field work: Barry Van Dusen's pencil sketches. Johannes Nevala does some incredible watercolours. Lars Jonsson, and of course Ennion and Tunnicliffe ... I've got a long list of others, but I'll stop there!
 
Oh so Many, Lars has to be there of course,(re reading birds and lightat mo)
But some of shackelton 's seascape and albatros paintings, Ray Ching, Dino Pavarano, of course the Bateman.!! Ian Lewingtons work , Old masters like
Josef Wolf, Bruno Lilifors, and also coming forward David Reid Henry.

There are so many really, Going To think some more on this.
especialy with who has pulled my creative stings.
 
Andrew Ellis mentioned Ian Lewington. My absolute favorite! His work is stunning and so life-like. Not familiar with some of the other names mentioned so I will search out their works. How about providing some links so we can all see what they do?

Here's the first (and my favorite so far):
http://www.ian-lewington.co.uk/
 
Andrew Ellis mentioned Ian Lewington. My absolute favorite! His work is stunning and so life-like. Not familiar with some of the other names mentioned so I will search out their works. How about providing some links so we can all see what they do?

Here's the first (and my favorite so far):
http://www.ian-lewington.co.uk/

Good idea - here's a little-known Swedish painter who may have some-sort of a career if he keeps at it! Go to Pa Svensca for the images . . .
http://www.larsjonsson.se
 
you have all mentioned great wildlife artists,but one that nobody has mentioned,who is a fantastic wildlife artist,keith brockie,he is ascotish artist.
 
I look at those pictures and think 'but I'm doing the same, I'm chucking some paint on the paper like he does', just they never turn out the same way. I am the proud owner of a Lars Jonsson original however - a doodle of a hummingbird on the cover pages of 'The Forgotten Forest', he took pity on me when I told him that as I'd spent my last few euros on 'Birds and Light' in France as a student, I was forced to eat bread and soup for weeks (I did the right thing!)
Maybe I should stop thinking about painting and actually do some more, got a heron to be getting on with!

GET OFF THE COMPUTER AND DO SOME WORK NICK!!

ok, I'm going!
 
I see you're back on the computer again Nick!

The above list reads like a who's who of giants of the bird art world, just to say the Darren Rees book blew me away when I first saw it, I love Bateman's sense of composition and I think Greg Poole borders on the genius the way he reduces his subject to a minimum of lines, shapes and colours but still makes them instantly recogniseable.
The only names I can add as a personal choice are the colourful panoramas of Carry Akroyd, and a great influence to me personally but not really a wildlife artist in the vein of this thread, are the colourful watercolour characterizations of Northumberland artist Mary Ann Rogers.

There, that's me lot.
 
that arctic tern has been the subject of a lot of study from my part this week, so simple, I can see exactly how he painted it, yet I can't paint like that! Maybe if I swapped the gin for some Absolut Vodka?? mmm
 
There are so many excellent artists - the ones mentioned above are superb in their own way, but if I had to choose one who captures the spirit of the bird within the landscape it would have to be the late great Donald Watson. Awesone! Absoultely love his harrier studies and scraperboard work also.

Chris Rose for his stunning photorealistic work (his Fulmar at the Bird Fair a few years ago was absolutely out of this world!) and must also mention local favourite Kim Atkinson again, especially for capturing the spirit of the wildlife of the Lleyn peninsula and Bardsey Island.

Best wishes

Andrew
 
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