For over forty-five years John C. Pitcher has been expressing his passion for nature through his field sketches and beautifully rendered paintings. Approaching his subject with patience and a desire to record, he fills his sketchbooks and field journals with the creative eye of an artist and observant mind of a naturalist. With confidence and originality he creates dynamic compositions that reveal his affinity for wildlife, especially birds.

  Born in Michigan to parents who loved to camp, he quickly developed a curiosity for nature while discovering his gift for art. With fervency for adventure and wilderness he left home the day after high school graduation to hitchhike 3500 miles to Alaska – only to be drafted into the US Army just weeks after reaching the Great Land. So Pitcher went from the pungent boreal forests of Alaska to the steaming jungles of the Vietnam War. By serving his country he earned a Bronze Star and an early out! Never losing site of his dream to go north, he moved back to Alaska. Over the next twelve years he merged his passion for birds with his talent for painting, gaining him a reputation as one of Alaska’s leading wildlife artists.

  Twelve years later he migrated south to Washington, in the shadow of Mt. St. Helens, where he became the “Artist/naturalist in Residence” at the Cispus Learning Center. From his studio at this environmental camp he perfected his painting techniques and further developed his plein air sketching skills while teaching young and adult students about the environment through his art lectures, bird banding and nature journaling.

  In 1994 he moved to Vermont, enjoying the mixed deciduous forests and Green Mountains with his wife Sue Westin, also a professional artist. They maintain their studios in Dorset along the shores of the beautiful Dorset Marsh.

As a Distinguished Signature Member of the international Society of Animal Artists, Pitcher has exhibited his art in major museums and galleries in America and abroad.