On Being a Bird Painter:

      There are only a handful of serious Bird Painters in the world who have dedicated their careers to the portrayal of birds of the New World Tropics. F.P.(Tony) Bennett is among the best of these dedicated Nature Artists.

    The skillful and accurate rendering of any wildlife subject is a result of many hours of study of that animal in its natural habitat and Bennett has literally spent years sketching, painting, and photographing in the forests of Mexico, Central and South America. These forests and their inhabitants are disappearing at an alarming rate and he feels a calling to paint this Beauty before it is gone forever. He is well known for his sensitive and scientifically accurate portrayals of birds of these areas, as well as a special ability to capture the characteristic personalities of small birds as well as the largest of raptors with equal skill.

    Bennett is an Artist dedicated to the craft of Painting, a master craftsman in both  watercolor and oil; one of his pieces done in either medium is a pleasure to enjoy.

   “There has never been a choice for me to be a bird painter or not. The trail has always been leading in that direction since about age 10; there has never been a fork in the path, a choice to be made. There has never been any other opportunity, no other desire. Never wavering.(Well, maybe a little in really hard times!) I have always seen this as a blessing, always knowing what I wanted to do. I have friends edging out of middle age searching for what I was fortunate to have found at such an early age.”

   “I have known since my 20’s when I started thinking about such stuff, that God put me on the Earth to paint Tropical Birds. There is a certain security of faith that comes from such a realization, a focus of purpose and effort. The more I travel in the New World Tropics, the more I realize the urgent sense of duty to paint the rare and vanishing beauty of these forests.”

    “Among the most beautiful and wonderful birds of these forests are the Hummingbirds, a family I love to paint. I have become known as the illustrator to go to when you need hummers. I have already painted around two-thirds of the 320 or so species in the family and many of those more than once; I will have painted the entire family before it’s over. I have a real feel for them; they are sublimely arrogant in an innocent kind of way (rather like me I’m told!). I lived with and took care of a collection of nine Peruvian hummers for almost three years. I treasure that difficult experience for what it taught me about who they really are compared to other kinds of birds.”