DELTON, Mich. — While West Michigan is quite a big place covering about 18 different counties, every once in a while we run across someone who makes their mark nationally. We found that person with wildlife artist, naturalist, and bonified outdoorsman Ed Sutton.
Sutton lives on Big Gilkey Lake and gets all of his inspiration from the outdoors. He draws for local and national publications in pencil, pen, and water colors. He’s also provided wildlife illustration for several books.
“I loved to draw when I was a kid and my parents at the time helped me in anything I wanted to do,” says Sutton. While most of us probably don’t recognize the name (locally), he draws for a weekly Barry County publication for a piece known as Kids Afield. He routinely gets stopped at the grocery store and is recognized here and there around parts of the county. He was also responsible for many of the designs used for the Michigan DNR (Department of Natural Resources) patches they wear on their uniforms.
It turns out Ed was the only male artist in his high school class, then further honed his art ability by attending Western Michigan University. He’s lived in the New England area for many years, functioned as a tour guide, but came back to his roots in Michigan. He is the epitome of an outdoorsman who loves all animals, but is an avid hunter and fisherman as well.
While Ed draws for newspapers, books, magazines, and other publications, most of his artwork is available for purchase. He can be emailed at edsutton@mei.net or phoned at (269) 671-4430. He’ll be turning 80 years old and simply looks fantastic! He attributes his stamina, youthful look, and vibrancy to the great outdoors saying “may be it’s because I spend a lot of time running around outdoors and don’t sit still very long.”
You can find much more information on Ed Sutton here.
