Joan Lewis

Joan Lewis has been painting birds since the early 1960s. Her first attempt, at the request of her husband John, was of an unusual hybrid finch purchased in Melbourne. During the next 20 years Joan taught herself to paint Australian birds with the encouragement of her family and long time friend John McKean. She was later introduced to Dr Richard Schodde and Ian Mason at the CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Ecology. Both these people provided valuable criticism of her work, Page 5 resulting in two of her paintings being hung in the Division’s gallery. Joan, in partnership with her husband, has visited numerous bird shows and has acquired a wealth of knowledge which has been of great value to her as a bird artist. In producing the paintings for the Zebra Finch they have spent many hours travelling throughout Australia and visiting other enthusiasts in the search for as much information as possible on all the Australian colour varieties of this species. She has exhibited at numerous art shows throughout New South Wales and other states. A recent work depicting Kookaburras received an award at the Shoalhaven Art Exhibition, and many of her paintings have been purchased by both local and overseas devotees of wildlife art.