Bird Art by Bird Artist John Halbert

Bird Paintings by Bird Artist John Halbert

Bird paintings and prints By John Halbert John Halbert Bird Art

John Halbert

John was born and grew up in a small village in Scotland. As a boy he spent much of his time drawing the animals belonging to the farm in the village. At school his talent for art was encouraged and the possibility of earning a living by painting was born. At the age of sixteen he moved with his family to Yorkshire where he was apprenticed as a lithographic artist with a printing company. However John always felt he wanted to paint professionally and after ten years gave up the security of his job in printing and moved to the Orkney Island where; in the tiny fishing village of St Margaret’s Hope, he scratched a living as a freelance illustrator of magazines for a Publisher in Dundee.

This time in Orkney was the start of John’s fascination with birds and his daily cliff top walks were a revelation with the number and variety of seabirds colonising the coastline. Regretfully despite the attractions of the Islands the somewhat modest and irregular income from illustration forced him to leave Orkney and return south to the security that printing provided.

Now at a stage where he can at last return to his first love, John attempts to combine the photo-realistic techniques he developed as an illustrator with a sense of drama by placing his subject in a setting which gives a feeling of intimacy for the viewer.

Over the years John has painted with oils; watercolour and acrylics however he currently finds Gouache the most flexible in rendering the detail he likes to incorporate into his work. Occasionally a return to the pencil drawing of his boyhood provides a welcome counterpoint to the painting.

Visit John Halbert's website
www.johnhalbert-wildlifeart.co.uk.