Jan Wilczur
I began sketching birds shortly after I started to watch them as a teenager. Then over several years I contributed many black and white
illustrations to bird reports, magazines, tour company brochures and books.
It was not until I was commissioned to do my first major colour work that I gave up my proper job to become a full-time illustrator. Since
then I have contributed to several books including Handbook of the Birds of the World (Lynx Edicions); Birds of the Western Palaearctic,
concise edition (Oxford University Press); Birds of South-east Asia (New Holland); Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (A & C Black) and
Thrushes (A & C Black).
Bookwork had left little time to indulge in paintings using the mass of field sketches I had accumulated over the years from both the U.K.
and abroad. The few that I did were mainly of British rarities and tropical rainforest species. But the many hours spent sketching in the
field were, I hope, useful in depicting a wide variety of birds in identification guides. Why, even occasionally, I illustrated a species I
had seen on my travels. Only in black & white illustrations was I able to express my doubtful creative urges.
I have always been interested in composition and have devoted as much attention to backgrounds, especially landscapes, as I have to the birds
in my pictures. In recent years I have become more interested in visiting landscapes and noting the birds I see and then painting from a
direct experience. Living in London the times spent visiting the wider countryside are precious although I am fortunate to live close to
the London Wetland Centre in Barnes, Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common.
I have exhibited at The Birdscapes Gallery near Cley, Norfolk; ‘Birds, Birds, Birds’ in Faversham, Kent; The London Wetland Centre and the
Birdfair.
I will be the featured artist at The Birdscapes Gallery from March 28th – April 11th, 2010.
Please contact the Gallery for details, tel. 01263 741742.
I may be contacted via e-mail: janwilczur@aol.com, and telephone, 0208 878 8925.
