John Felsing

Born in 1954, John Felsing is a native to Michigan. He grew up drawing and painting in Battle Creek and studied zoology at Michigan State University in East Lansing. Following his school years, Felsing worked illustrating the publications of the Battle Creek area's Binder Park Zoo, winning several awards and national recognition for his designs. His career as an illustrator led him also to a position as staff artist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources' magazine, Natural Resources. Felsing is now a full-time painter.

Preferring the oil medium, Felsing often chooses to take native Michigan birds in their natural habitats as his subjects, though he pursues "pure" landscape painting as well. His landscapes also focus on his own backyard, so to speak, as he produces views of rural Southern Michigan.

His works, Ghost in the Night and November are good examples of the artist's style, depicting birds in aquatic native Michigan landscapes. Felsing is known for painting at diverse times of day and throughout the changing seasons. Ghost in the Night is a nocturnal scene, while November shows a quiet autumn view of Canada geese by a stream. Both of these works express a fidelity to Felsing's thought about the power of painting related to nature. He says, "All that one can do with painting is attempt to release your emotional response to nature."