About me

I am a wildlife artist and live with my wife and family in North Yorkshire.

I was born in a small mining village in Ayrshire. I grew up in Scotland at a time when parents still allowed children to go off and wander in the surrounding countryside, so I benefited from a ‘free range’ upbringing. Pencil drawing was a great source of pleasure even then and living opposite a farm meant there was no lack of subject matter. At school my art teachers provided great encouragement and I hoped to find a way of earning a living from the only real talent I seemed to possess.

At the age of sixteen I moved with my family to Yorkshire and while looking for work was offered a job in Printing. This lasted for eleven years when my desire to paint full time caused me to turn my back on my job in printing and with my wife; move to the Orkney Islands where I worked as a freelance illustrator. The work was enjoyable but not very well paid, reluctantly we made the decision to return south to Yorkshire and another job in printing. Despite this reverse the beautiful coastline of Orkney inspired a lasting love of wildlife and birds in particular.

Having completed a second spell in the Printing Industry I have at last reached a stage where I can paint on a full time basis. The countryside and wildlife around my home in North Yorkshire now provides the subject matter for my painting.

I hope you enjoy looking at my paintings and perhaps you will check out where my work can be seen, I am happy to discuss commissions or answer any questions relating to my work. The Sketchbook section provides me with a forum to show work in progress and describe the stages from the initial sketches through to the detailed drawing which forms the basis of my paintings. Because of the amount of detail I include in my work; photography is an important source of information and my photographic sorties will feature in the blog. I welcome any comments and feedback from visitors to my Sketchbook, just bear in mind that in common with most artists I have a fragile ego so please be gentle with me.

You can buy my finished paintings on my main website: www.johnhalbert-wildlifeart.co.uk