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Ren Hathway has just crossed the finishing line on a marathon illustrating task on the newly published guide Thrushes of the World authored by Peter Clement. Additional plates for the book were also prepared by Jan Wilczur & Cliver Byers.

Ren has lived on St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly in the UK for the last 2 years having spent the previous six on Tresco also in the Isles of Scilly. He lives with his girlfriend Jo and her little girl Shannon.

He was raised in Cornwall and spent his formative years there, having first become aware of his interest in birds at around the age of 6. During his teens he would cycle up to 80 miles a day to go birding at sites around Cornwall particularly Stithians Reservoir, Loe Pool, Marazion and Hayle. Having known of Scilly for many years he finally visited in 1982 and had been a regular visitor until he became a resident.

He studied Fine Art at Falmouth and Bristol gaining a Degree in Fine Art (and majoring in Sculpture).

Having taken jobs in various different avenues he finally went Self-Employed in 1996, he has been occupied since 1997 with "Thrushes of the World".

His travels have taken him as far as America and China, where he recalls one memorable 12 Thrush day !!!.

Surfbirds. The illustrations for this book have taken you several years to complete. As an artist working on a project like this is it a hindrance to be based on islands so far away from your author and publisher or does it help to have that space between them?

Ren. It’s a blessed relief !! But seriously it has not been a problem generally and has been nice on occasion when both have stayed on Scilly. Having known Peter for many years, I enjoyed our meetings where we could discuss the progress and content of the book and also have quality time birding.

Surfbirds For a book on Thrushes, living on the Isles of Scilly is probably a big help. It has a unique location that can allow you to see vagrant American and Siberian thrushes regularly. Did you draw on this field experience much when preparing plates for the book?

Ren Most definitely Yes. Scilly has to be the best place to observe Thrushes in Britain if not Europe. It is perfectly positioned to attract not only the regularly occurring species but also vagrants from both North America, Asia and the Mediterranean. In my years of visiting and living on Scilly I have seen 5 species of N.American thrush and 12 species of Eurasian thrush. Inevitably first-hand experience is of the greatest value for any artist.

Surfbirds When preparing your plates, did you need to refer to examination of skins frequently or was it mostly photographs and field experience?

Ren A mixture of all three were used but all the plates were painted from measured notes taken directly from the skins. In handling and measuring skins I was able to build a calculated impression of the structure of each species, to a certain degree.

Field experience is certainly invaluable in this respect, photos are also invaluable: - any information that allows the creation of a mental image of a particular species helps, but often a museum skin may be all that is available.

I would visit Tring for periods at a time measuring and photographing for later use. Peter would also check and compare any painting also, and directly against skins in the museum, so that colours and tones were absolutely correct. This was particularly important with such similar figures as the catharus sub species, which are somewhat variable anyway. Lighting has a considerable effect on the tones of colours which simply contributes to the problem, and then the work goes through the printing process !!.

Surfbirds Whilst working on a project that spans several years, is there a temptation to look back at the plates painted at the beginning and want to repaint them?

Ren In fact I did indeed repaint many of the plates, mostly those that I had painted earlier in the project or the ones I was unhappy with myself. At this point I would be happy to repaint all but a few.

Surfbirds Did things get busy for you after winning the Bird Illustrator of the Year?

Ren Yes and No but not immediately in that I had a couple of false starts, I turned various jobs down for the sake of other projects that eventually came to nothing.

Surfbirds In your mind, what is the most difficult part of bird illustrating?

Ren Making enough money from it !!!! Trying to work from scant or vague information can be frustrating. As I mentioned previously it can be difficult to ascertain precise tones in conditions of varying light.

Surfbirds Are there any artists whose work particularly inspires you?

Ren As a child I loved the old Observers Book of Birds and the illustrations of Archibald Thorburn. I grew up with ‘Peterson’. Latter day heroes of mine are many, but inevitably Lars Jonsson, and of the other contemporary artists I am particularly impressed by David Quinn, Ian Lewington and Killian Mullarney but where could you draw the line ?!.

Use this link to order your copy of Thrushes with Amazon.co.uk

Use this link to order your copy of Thrushes with Amazon.com