Youngest member of prestigious art society calls Lutz home

LUTZ (FOX 13) - He's an up and coming artist, and at age 29, one of the youngest members ever of the prestigious Society of Animal Artists.  

John Brennan lives in his parents' home in  Lutz, where he is inspired by the birds and animals that visit his backyard.

Dozens of his paintings adorn the walls of their home, a  visual history of painting dating back to his childhood.  It was during high school that he got serious about art.

The woodpecker he painted was a game changer.  

Says Brennan, "It was the first piece I painted and entered it into Florida Wildlife Magazine and got the cover...and the rest is history."  

As a wildlife artist, he's inspired by the natural world around him. He has lived in the Caribbean and now in Florida, where wildlife, especially birds, are plentiful. Birds are his passion; ducks and other waterfowl, exotic flamingoes, egrets and herons, and everyday birds. 

Says Brennan, "I can look out my studio door, at the bird feeders and see beautiful cardinals. Sometimes I'll take my camera and snap a few pictures. It's sort of endless inspiration right in my backyard."

Brennan's studio is also in the backyard, just steps from the house.  

It's where he spends most of his time, painstakingly finessing every feather, every tuft of fur of his wildlife subjects.  

Brennan says, "Larger pieces can take 300 hours. Some them take 30 days of 10 hour days. People  don't realize the amount of mental energy it takes to be creative for that long a period of time."

But he's in it for life. Art is his passion and his business. He dreams of a day when he'll have a place of his own.

Says Brennan, "I would like to have a gallery for people to see my work and enjoy it the same way I do."

For now, John Brennan's art will soon be on display at two Bay Area events:

His work will be one of the Dali Dozen on December 5, 2018, at the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg.

And his miniatures will be on display at the Leepa Rattner Museum of Art in Tarpon Springs January 20 through February 10.

He is also is auctioning off a painting to benefit the California Fire Foundation. The auction runs through Wednesday on Ebay.