Chris Shields

Born in Manchester UK in 1954 I have a keen interest in wildlife and the countryside also dance all of which are reflected in my work.Became self-employed artist and illustrator in 1983. Since then I have produced to date in excess of ten thousand illustrations in over 300 books, numerous calendars, greeting cards, posters and jigsaw puzzles for organizations such as: The BBC, Harper Collins, A & C Black, Usborne, The World Wide Fund for Nature, The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and The Wildlife Trusts.Until comparatively recently all my work centred around wildlife and the natural world, creating highly detailed painting and illustrations in gouache and watercolour.Although still passionate about nature my work has taken a new direction; dance, in particular Argentinean Tango, so now I am moving away from painting detail too concentrate on painting movement both in nature and the human form.