Early years
I was born in 1972, and moved at the age of two to Great Givendale in East Yorkshire, not far from where I still live today. My father, Richard Fuller, was a forerunner of wildlife-friendly farming practice and his efforts to combine commercial farming with wildlife conservation at Givendale won him, among other accolades, the much-coveted silver lapwing award for farm conservation.
His keen interest in wildlife meant he often took my brother, David Fuller, and I out into the fields with him to show us nesting sites, badger setts, roe rings or otter tracks. When he eventually published a book on the wildlife at Givendale, I helped with the photographs by shining a torch through fungi for him.
In the school holidays my brother and I roamed the farm freely; often adopting orphaned or injured animals and raising them in various pens in the garden. My favourite was a little owl I raised which would perch on the handlebars of my bicycle.
School days
School, on the other hand, “got in the way” of these formative experiences. Severely dyslexic, I found the lessons a chore. My mother, who would try to stick up for me when teaching staff became impatient, once pointed out that my drawing was good. I remember the teacher telling her: “All children can draw!”
By the time I was 14, however, I was allowed to give up French for extra art tuition. But even in these lessons, wildlife took centre stage, so every art project I was given, I turned into a wildlife-orientated one. The ‘food’ project became a series of drawings of fish, bulls and chickens. The ‘small things’ project became drawings of chicks in the nest, feathers and shells.
Art college
I left school at 15 and, largely on the merit of my portfolio, was accepted on a two year BTEC national diploma course in art and design at York College for Art and Technology. Finally I could dedicate every day to doing what I loved best.
But it took me some time to adjust to the course. To my horror, I was banned from painting wildlife and set to work on wide variety of subjects – from life drawing to jewellery design. We would practise tonal values, light and shade, perspectives and ellipses until we had perfected them. I found the size and scale of the projects terrifying. I had been used to doing small, highly detailed drawings mainly in pen and ink. Now I was expected to produce full colour drawings on A1 size canvases and larger.
I was the youngest on the course by a long way. Most of the students had come onto the course after completing their A-Levels and were 18 or 19 with all the confidence that sixth form had given them. But after years of being the bottom of class, I was now gaining confidence in myself and in my work.
I went on to Carmarthen College of Art and Technology in Wales to study wildlife illustration. It was one of the only courses in the UK to focus on wildlife. In hindsight, I think it might have been better off continuing to broaden my skills on a more general art course rather than specialising so early. But at last, I was painting wildlife. I spent my days trawling the countryside for subjects and, having found them, producing a series of sketches from life. I would use these drawings as the main reference for subsequent paintings back in the studio.
Developing reference skills
However, life-drawing and wildlife do not marry well. Most of the time you only get a fleeting glimpse of your subject and you can waste a lot of time sketching impressions rather than watching the subject itself. Of course it goes without saying that the great British weather does not help either. In the end I decided to use my camera to gather reference material.
I discovered that I could concentrate on capturing my subject on film first and concentrate on capturing the bird or animal on canvas later, back in the studio. My Minolta 7000 with 70-210mm lens, although not the quickest of cameras, became an invaluable tool for my work. I was awarded ‘Student of the Year’ when I graduated in 1994.
Starting out
I wasn’t sure I would be able to make my living by painting alone and toyed with several career paths when I finished college, all of them involving wildlife. But it was a summer job at Chester Zoo that sealed my fate. Working there was a challenge; I lost a tooth to a camel and was knocked to the floor by a leopard cub. But the staff would let me sketch the animals in my spare time and when I left I sold over £1000 worth of paintings to them. It was my first major sale, and it spurred me on.
After college, I set up trading under the name ‘Natural Images.’ My first commissions came from family friends. One commission led to another and soon my reputation grew. But I got my first big break when a journalist from The Shooting Times came to Givendale to write an article on my father. As they were sitting chatting in the kitchen, the journalist asked about the paintings of wildlife on the wall. Then he came up to my studio and interviewed me as well. He compared me to Roger McPhail, the artist whose work graces Finest Scotch Whiskey’s ‘Famous Grouse’ bottles, in his piece.
Exhibitions
My first exhibition was at ‘Talent’s Fine Arts’ in Malton in 1992. It was a sell out. I went on to exhibit at the Tyron Gallery and the Mall Galleries in London. And at the age of 20, I exhibited alongside Roger McPhail in Paris’ La Musee de la Chasse et de la Nature, bringing the story full circle from my first newspaper interview.
My own gallery
My wife, Victoria, and I moved to Fotherdale Farm in 1998. There was plenty of space for a gallery and studio, and lots of wildlife in the surrounding fields. But very soon we ran out of space. I was holding two exhibitions a year, one in spring and one in November, each attracting up to 1000 people a time. Visitors had to tramp through the house to get up to the gallery and studio, which were on the first floor.
So in 2001 we applied for a rural enterprise grant to convert the redundant farm buildings next to Fotherdale Farm into a large 60ft gallery and adjoining workshops. The beamed gallery and studio that you see today are the result. In 2018 I celebrated 20 years of running a successful art business from this beautiful venue.
1 comment
I will be honest I didn’t know of the gallery until my sister was over from Australia this year. She has a favourite King Fisher illustration that happened to have been created by Robert. Therefore we had to visit the gallery when she was over. I was impressed by the quality and volume of his work and promptly purchased two limited edition prints and selected the mounts and frames on site. The staff were very helpful and could answer all my queries. Very shortly the framed prints were delivered in perfect condition due to the carefully wrapped and packed box. I have since purchased two more badger prints from private individuals and have just placed an order for another Fox framed print this morning. Go visit the gallery and you will be impressed and maybe buy a print or a postcard to help support his work.