Biography

Biography

Chris Rose was born in 1959 in Uganda, where he lived until the age of six. He was educated in Surrey and took a degree in Biology at Nottingham University. On graduating in 1981, and unable to find work as a biologist, he was offered a post as illustrator for the Dorset Heritage Coast Project for one year. Drawing and painting birds and other wildlife had been a paid hobby since his early teens, but a career in art had been thought too insecure to be considered seriously. However, the year with the Dorset Heritage Coast Project, during which Chris learnt much about illustration and design, convinced him that this was the career for him - insecurity beckoned and all thoughts of becoming a famous biologist were abandoned.

In 1983 he spent three months back-packing through India and Nepal, birdwatching and sketching, and the studio pictures that resulted from this trip were accepted for the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London, the following year. On the strength of these paintings he was elected to membership of the SWLA. He currently serves on the SWLA council and is a governor of the Federation of British Artists.

In 1986 he won the ‘British Birds’ Bird Illustrator of the Year Award and in 1991 won the European Bird Artist of the Year Award. In 2001 he won the black and white category in ’Birdwatch’ magazine’s 'European Bird Artist of the Year' competition, and in 2005 won the Swarovski and Birdwatch magazine 'European Bird Artist of the Year' competition with a painting of swimming King penguins.

He has exhibited widely in the UK and has had work shown in Paris, Singapore and Japan. In 1992 and 1993 he had paintings selected for North America’s most prestigious annual Bird and Wildlife Art exhibitions at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wisconsin. He has had four one-man exhibitions at the Wildlife Art Gallery, Lavenham, Suffolk, and shows annually with the SWLA

Besides painting, Chris also works as a bird illustrator and has illustrated many books. He was the sole illustrator for Grebes of the World and ‘Swallows and Martins of the World’, and has contributed illustrations to ‘Birds of the Western Palaearctic’, ‘Handbook of the Birds of the World’ and ‘ The Complete Book of British Birds’, to name but a few. He is currently working on a major new book, Robins and Chats of the World which will contain 64 full-colour plates depicting the nearly 150 species that comprise this group. Chris has also illustrated the 'Duck Stamp' for the Wildlife Habitat Trust

In 1992 and 1994 he was invited by the Artists for Nature Foundation to join an international group of artists visiting the Bierbze marshlands of Poland and the Extremadura area of Spain to draw and paint wildlife, with the aim of highlighting the beauty and fragility of these areas and to promote their conservation. He recently joined the ANF on their most ambitious project to date to the Tumbesian region of northwest Peru and southwest Ecuador in the summer of 2003. In 1993 he spent three months in Malaysia working on a new bird book for the region.

However, most of the inspiration for his paintings comes from the countryside around his home in the Scottish Borders. He has a special interest in painting water and many of his paintings reflect this (no pun intended!). He says of his work: ‘My desire to paint wildlife, particularly birds, stems from a deep fascination and respect for the natural world and a wish to share my excitement for the subject through my paintings. I am inspired by the light, colours, textures and patterns which are found in nature, even in the most ordinary and often overlooked corners of the landscape.’