Tony Forrest

From the age of about six Tony Forrest had a keen interest in painting and was always pestering his Dad to help him paint something in his sketch book every day after school.

I recall doing ghastly sunsets behind Stonehenge - I still have them! I was a loner at school and always found comfort looking at books about animals. I recall having the feeling of wanting to escape to these amazing peaceful places.Tony Forrest continued enjoying art during the remainder of his school days.

In 1978 he went on to study technical art at college in Cornwall. The plan was to sit in a stuffy office drawing nuts and bolts! His big inspirational break came in the form of a TV programme.He saw a film about the work of renowned wildlife artist David Shepherd. This was so inspiring for him that, from that moment, he was hooked - Tony Forrest had decided he would become a great artist !

A brief spell working for advertising agencies followed college. From there I spent a few years working for galleries in the Bournemouth area and gradually let illustrating take a back seat while I concentrated more on painting. In 1990 I turned to painting wildlife full-time and my passion for this was endorsed by my first ever one-man exhibition. Half the paintings were sold on the opening night with most of the remainder selling during the show. Shortly after the show, I embarked on my first trip to Africa. Tony Forrest has been going back there ever since.