John Silver

John Silver began working as a commercial artist after leaving College with a BA (Hon) Degree in 1981. His first full time job was with a Graphics and Photographic agency in Manchester UK, this was to last for only one year as he wanted to pursue a wildlife painting career. In 1983, John became a professional Illustrator and freelance photographic retoucher, learning to retouch using a paintbrush and an airbrush; he specialized in fantasy airbrush illustrations.

At the same time, John was studying the different painting techniques of the old masters, his favorites being Da Vinci, Titian, Rembrant, Turner, and Constable. In order to discover as much as possible about their techniques he would painstakingly copy selected paintings, some of them taking as long as eight months to complete. His constant love throughout has been to paint wildlife and take every opportunity to study and observe animals in their natural environment.

In 1994, John spent some time in the company of world renowned wildlife artists John Seerey Lester and Alan Hunt, the knowledge that he gained from them at this time proved invaluable. Since then, John have been exhibiting and collecting reference at many game fairs throughout the country, and this has resulted in producing his working dog series of paintings.