Wildlife Artist

Cornish wildlife artist Jon Tremaine was born in Truro, United Kingdom, and from a young age would spend his time in his local woods collecting fungi, exploring streams and spotting wildlife. Jon is a self-taught artist, and began to create drawings in his unique style of drawing in 1981, though didn’t continue with his passion until 28 years later!  Jon exhibited his wildlife art for the first time in 2008 and has since become extremely well known by nature lovers and art collectors throughout the UK and abroad. UK college students often choose him as an artist to study as part of their course, and he also works with local schools to further their art and nature interests.  He can usually be found engrossed in his latest drawing at his working artist studio and gallery in Lelant near St Ives.

Jon creates his animal art using a Rotring pen drawing directly on to Schoellershammer art board. This pen has the finest .10mm nib giving him the opportunity to draw with great precision. His pen and ink wildlife drawings are a labour of love, taking as long as two hundred and eighty hours to create.

Jon says: “Animals are amazing; I’m in awe of how they fend for themselves and adapt to their environment.” For him, interpreting their shapes and weaving them together to create the fascinating drawings is the challenge. “It is an intricate balance. A lot of thought has to go in to deciding how the flora and fauna merge and add structure within the bigger picture. It takes time and cunning to consider how each component part of the drawing will relate to another, in terms of relevance, shape, tone and form. For example, the Running Hare has a mink on it’s foreleg. The mink’s fur represents the running hare’s fur, sharing a similar texture. The fur is also dark, which represents the shaded area of the leg.” Whilst the animals come from Jon’s observations, photographs and reference books, the flora is sometimes his artistic interpretation drawn from his life-long observations, and joy gained from walking in nature.

Jon’s work has been featured in many regional editorials and international magazines including “Wildscape”. He is also a keen business supporter of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.

The Artist Interviewed…