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Thank you for visiting my website, which contains a selection of paintings, drawings, prints and books on the natural world, a subject that has absorbed me so much over the years. Since leaving the Berkshire College of Art and Design nearly forty years ago, apart from six months with a design group, I have been a full-time, freelance illustrator, specialising mainly in insects and other invertebrates; I've yet to get a proper job. I've never really known what title to use for my work, whether I'm a scientific, biological, natural history or wildlife illustrator but at the moment I've plumped for the latter. My interest in the natural world has always been with me. Both my father and grandfather were keen countrymen, and some of my earliest memories are of exploring the countryside with my father, and visiting my grandparents’ house in the appropriately named 'Cricket Hill' in Finchampstead, Berkshire, where I would race to a small cabinet in the corner of their living room, to stare at my granddad’s modest collection of butterflies and moths.  So, it follows that my main interest in my working life has also been insects and other invertebrates. For the artist/illustrator there can be no area of greater diversity, with an infinite range of shapes, colours and textures, and with more species than one could ever hope to illustrate in many lifetimes. Of all the insect groups, butterflies are at the top of the pecking order of popularity, and although I have illustrated examples of all insect orders, it is only a few groups that attract enough attention to encourage publishers to give them the full, field guide treatment. Over the past twenty years, I’ve managed to cover most of these more popular groups, and have had the pleasure of meeting and working with some of the most respected, knowledgeable and interesting people, who have inspired me to attempt to do justice to the subjects that they write of so eloquently and always with such passion. As well as the invertebrates I also occasionally paint vertebrates – mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds, though not often the latter if I can help it, as some may know of the other ‘Lewington’ illustrator, my younger brother Ian, who is much better at them, than am I! I even sometimes stray away from the natural world, for example in 2008, when I was commissioned by Waitrose to paint Easter Eggs, but even then, they were made into a mini Easter egg field guide for chocoholics. It was galling that they printed 750,000 copies, which were seen by far more people than would ever see my ‘proper’ illustrations. In addition to those illustrations that appear on this website, I have a huge number of other individual images, which may be used either for publication or as prints for framing. If you would like more details of any subject on the website, or any not shown, please feel free to contact me. Other NewsSince 'The Butterflies of Britain and Ireland' was published last April, the butterfly portraits have been going fast and most of them have been sold. There are just 8 still availabe :- Portraits from The Butterflies of Britain and Ireland although I have just added one or two extra illustrations which weren't previously available. There are also additional sketches of European butterflies, as well as several other insects and other invertebrates, plus a few vertebrates. Last April I produced a set of 8 butterfly stamp designs for the Isle of Man Post Office. I'm now producing a set on the Bees of the Isle of Man, these will be available on 8th August 2012. Both sets can be seen here under 'Stamp Issues - IOM Butterfly Collection' and 'Future Issues - Bee Fauna of the Isle of Man' :- Isle of Man Post Office Seven of the butterflies that feature on the Isle of Man stamp designs are available as prints and can be seen here:- Other Butterfly Prints
'Micro moths'I've now completed the artwork for the Micro moth book and it and the text have been handed over to the publishers who have now completed the design and layout. They have now handed everything over to the Italian printers and it is due to be printed in the first week of May, publication will be late spring 2012. British Wildlife Publishing now have a pre-publication offer British Wildlife Publishing and I would ask anyone who intends buying the book to buy direct from them, rather than from the large, non-tax paying dealers who may be offering it for a few pence less. This will help support BWP, a small, specialist publisher that produces natural history publications of the very highest quality. I've recently added 4 new moth prints to the website - 3 micros and a print of one of my favourite moths, the Merveille du Jour. This is taken from a painting I've recently completed, for no other reason than I love the moth, which is stunning when it appears in moth traps in the autumn. All 4 prints can be seen here :- Moths Last year, I wrote an article for Atropos magazine, discussing the merits of artwork over photography for identification guides, from an illustrators point of view. It featured in the Summer 2011 issue.
BumblebeesThe latest project I've been involved with, is illustrating all the British bumblebees for an app. which is being produced by BirdGuides for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. Identifying queen bumblebees in the spring, after they have emerged from hibernation, is fairly straight forward but later in the year when workers and males are around identification can be more tricky, even though there are only 23 British species. It's been an interesting group to work on and hopefully the illustrations I've produced will help with more positive identification.
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