Home - Bruce Pearson - An Artist in the Natural World

The design drawing (above centre) was traced onto a small block of Foamalux which was then cut leaving all the black areas and lines (below left). That first block was inked and printed, and with the paper rolled back and still trapped in the press, a second clean same-sized block replaced the first precisely. The paper was then dropped back onto the bare surface of the second block and the image offset onto it. The second block could then be taken from the press and cut to reflect exactly where the grey areas and lines (below right) should fall. After fine adjusting of both blocks - and mixing of the final grey colour - they were printed one on top of the other to produce the final image. See more about prints and printmaking

A seasonal card

November 2020

Around this time of year, for the past 10 years or so, I've set a few days aside to make a batch of Christmas cards - I'm an artist, after all!

Finding cards to send was becoming more and more difficult as as I couldn't seem to find ones with images I liked enough or particularly wanted to send to friends and family.

Of course, there are some great charity cards and it is good to support a cause by buying packs - and I also do that - but I wanted to return a little joy and sincerity to the business of sending cards at Christmas. It was annoying and a tad ridiculous spending lots on stamps then slightly regretting the sincerity of the message inside being eclipsed by the 'message' conveyed by the card design on the outside.

Maybe some are kept? I know that quite are few are framed and hanging on walls, and I'm told by one friend that she has collected every one. So it seems that not all of them are put in the recycle bin but one or two carry on spreading a little seasonal goodwill beyond Twelfth Night!

This site aims to convey a feeling for some of the studio processes and field experiences of an artist who takes wildlife and landscape as his main starting points.

Over a period 45 years I have been lucky to travel widely in search of subjects from the Arctic and Antarctica, to Africa, much of Europe, and the Americas. Whenever opportunities have arisen I've worked out and about in wild places looking for the rhythm and restlessness that occurs among wildlife subjects and in elemental landscapes. Sometimes the focus has included people as they interact and overlap with species and habitats creating powerful images and dramatic themes about the natural world and our relationship to it.

Also on this site are some of the creative outcomes - pieces of finished work, work in progress, or exhibitions and other events where my paintings and prints are shown.

The starting point for me is the field experience as pure observation is the raw material from which everything else extends. It might be a few small sketches or a larger more considered drawing; or it might be a more ambitious painting which one hopes distils something of a day’s experience. A work straight from the field can sometimes be framed and exhibited as it is. What is left is taken back to the studio to be viewed in a new light and the snatched ideas worked through in different mediums - relief or intaglio printing, monoprinting or oil painting.

These days, however, I spend a lot of time in my studio working through the piles of creative debris accumulated over years travelling to wild places. With all the restrictions and difficulties with travel in a virus bedeviled world, it is just as exciting these days trying to make something new out of old ideas just by travelling just a very short distance to my studio.