Lines from the River

How do you explore your connection to nature? In this blog, Clay Thompson relates how rivers have inspired him to create beautiful wildlife illustrations.

My name is Clay, and I’m a part-time wildlife illustrator. I was born in Canada, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains before later moving to England. I have been drawing for as long as I can remember, ever since I could hold a pencil, and I was fortunate to grow up surrounded by an extraordinary abundance of wildlife. Those early years, immersed in nature, shaped everything that followed. Even now, you’ll usually find me outdoors at the weekend, most often with a fishing rod in hand.

As a child I was endlessly curious, frequently disappearing into the woods or across fields in search of birds, insects, and small wonders hidden beneath rocks and fallen leaves. My grandmother, a hobbyist painter, encouraged this curiosity and inspired me to draw. One place from those early years left a lasting impression on me, the Winter Gardens in Calgary, a vast greenhouse in the heart of the city.

Winters in Canada could reach ‑35°C, so this was the only place where plants and flowers could flourish without being buried under snow. A small man-made river wound through the building, and hummingbirds flitted from bloom to bloom. I think it was there that I first felt the urge to capture the ephemeral beauty of wildlife on paper. I’ve been drawing wildlife ever since.

After moving to England when I was eight, my friends and I spent most weekends fishing. It was 1980s Britain and we had little money, so our tackle came from flea markets, pre-war and Victorian rods and reels held together by ingenuity and enthusiasm. Around that time I discovered fly fishing, and I was immediately captivated by the idea of tying my own flies. I didn’t yet know how to fish them properly, but the seeds were planted for something I would return to later in life.

Back then my friends and I mostly fished for carp, perch, tench, and chub. We spent long weekends beside rivers and lakes, these days formed the backdrop to my youth. Home was not always an easy place for me, and nature was a refuge, a source of peace, balance, and quiet.

When I left school I began my career as an illustrator, working for an agency that designed packaging for Mars Confectionery. For the next two decades I illustrated, visualised, and designed for some of the world’s leading design and advertising agencies. In 2002, after working on the World Cup campaign for Interbrand Newell and Sorrell in London, I stepped away from graphic design and moved into software product design.

I still work in London as product designer for an investment bank. Commuting has become part of my creative life. All the drawings you’ll see alongside this article were made as I travelled by train to work, in my A4 sketchbook. Over the years I’ve met some wonderful people simply through drawing in public. Anyone who travels between Newbury and Paddington will likely have seen me quietly sketching along the way.

I was lucky to come of age in the 1980s and 90s, immersed in groundbreaking British comedy. Gone Fishing started to air on the BBC. My two comedy heroes working together on a new show dedicated to fishing was so inspiring. I started reading Bob Mortimer’s biography And Away and Paul Whitehouse and John Bailey’s How We Fish helped re-kindle my love of fly fishing. Around that time, my wife gifted me a fly-fishing lesson with Simon Cooper at Fishingbreaks. It turned out to be one of the most beautiful days of my life. We learned to cast properly at Simon’s stunning mill, and I fell headlong back in love with fly fishing.

At the time it felt like a joyful rediscovery. I didn’t know then that this rediscovered love of fishing would one day steady me through some darker times.

Years later, after a medical scare that left me feeling anxious and unsteady, fishing and drawing once again became a way of grounding myself. I booked a coarse-fishing session in Hay-on-Wye with John Bailey, author of so many of my favourite fishing books and consultant to Gone Fishing.

That weekend, learning to centre-pin reel fish with him, was exactly what I needed. John is a warm, generous, and deeply knowledgeable man, and we soon discovered a shared love of wildlife and drawing. I later sent him some of my prints as a thank-you, and from that chance meeting a friendship grew. We now keep in touch regularly, and I’m illustrating his next book.

Working on John’s project has given me a wonderful focus: a living list of species to capture. Over the past two years I’ve been drawing as many UK river fish as possible, along with the mammals and birds I encounter while exploring the Test Valley. I photograph every species I catch and see, using those moments as reference and inspiration. I have a particular love for wild brown trout and grayling, creatures as untamed and beautiful as any exotic bird.

I feel incredibly fortunate to live in a part of the world where all the great chalk streams of southern England are less than thirty minutes away. For someone who has always sought peace, wonder, and connection through nature, it feels very much like I’ve found my home.