John is now based in North East Scotland, in Aberdeenshire, after 27 years in the South West in Dumfries and Galloway. His focus remains birds and mammals in the landscape, in their habitat, celebrating the wonderful, life enhancing diversity of creatures that we share this planet with.

He was made a member of the Society of Wildlife Artists in 2007, the same year that he won the Swarovski/Birdwatch Bird Artist of the Year Award and the first of his two books with Langford Press, ‘Between the Tides’, was published. John has subsequently appeared in many other publications and his second book ‘Drawn to the Edge’ was released in 2013.

First hand observations and field drawings in watercolour or pastel are the basis for all his work, though he prefers painting in pastel, acrylic or oils in the studio where he is looking to create something fresh and new that wholly embraces the initial experience but then takes that elsewhere, strengthening the initial intention and exciting the artist within.

John is an experienced and enthusiastic tutor, running wildlife drawing courses for the Field Studies Council and Artsafari, teaching weekly classes in life drawing, portraiture, still life and landscapes as well as specialist workshops in pastel techniques. He was a tutor on John Busby’s Seabird Drawing week for a number of years.

He has worked to commission for all the major wildlife charities, participated in the Artists for Nature Foundation project to Sark and the SWLA/BTO Flightlines project.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

I draw and paint direct from nature as much as I can. It is my way of connecting with the non human species with which we share this planet home and the many varied landscapes and habitat we all rely upon. The rewards for opening up to the fundamental beauty all around us in this way are tangible. Even the familiar becomes a source of wonder and amazement. It is literally eye opening. This process of quiet observation and reverence is life changing.

My field studies may sometimes be worthy of a mount and a frame in their own right but they are primarily a record of a specific moment and of a personalised experience. They may or may not become a source of reference for a studio painting but I do, however, hugely enjoy that time at the easel, giving licence to the imagination, memory and emotion, contemplating aspects of composition, colour and mark making and the creation of something new that embraces wholly the initial experience but then takes that further, strengthening the intention, and hopefully awakening a response in the viewer.

http://www.johnthrelfall.co.uk/

John Threlfall - Young Grizzly