Gallery
Originals
Giclées / Prints
Stone Sculptures
Wood Carvings
Artwork Request
Ask Tom
Contact
Home
|
 Tom Allen received his education at the University of Maine, earning a B.S. degree in entomology and a master's degree in wildlife management. For 32 years he served as a wildlife research biologist for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, where he conducted research on a number of species, including deer, raccoons, black bears, wild turkeys, and ruffed grouse to name a few.
 Tom has been fascinated with butterflies since early childhood. During his tenure in West Virginia, he studied the butterflies of that region and wrote a best-selling field guide, The Butterflies of West Virginia and Their Caterpillars, published in 1997. Tom moved to South Florida in 2003 and now works for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on burrowing owls. He is also a research associate for the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity in Gainesville, and works on rare and threatened butterflies in South Florida.
 Among his many published articles and bulletins, Tom recently published Caterpillars in the Field and Garden: A Field Guide to Butterfly Caterpillars of North America with coauthors Jim Brock and Jeffrey Glassberg. Tom continues to enjoy rearing butterflies from all across the U.S., studying their life history and photographing the various stages of development.
Tom's background has naturally led him to an interest in plants and the use of native plant materials in landscapes. In the process of rearing most Florida butterflies, which use native plants as hosts, Tom has become familiar with various Florida plant species and their requirements. As a result, Tom has developed an extensive butterfly garden, attracting many of the local species to his yard. He has also assisted schools and other organizations in Lee County with the development of butterfly gardens at their facilities.
 Tom is a contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine, writing a regular butterfly column for that publication and editing other articles concerning butterflies. Many of his articles have helped guide people in developing butterfly gardens across the country.
 A nationally recognized wildlife artist, Tom has produced paintings for many organizations, including the Rainforest Alliance, Ducks Unlimited, WV Raptor Rehabilitation Center, and Rotary International. Two of his painting designs are used as license plates for West Virginia motor vehicles, raising funds for West Virginia's Wildlife Diversity Program, and he has just completed a third painting depicting a brook trout. Tom has also begun to paint the wildlife of southwest Florida and has had paintings in the 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 Charlotte Harbor NEP calendars.
Many of Tom's early paintings were produced in watercolor medium. Since the late 1970s, he has used primarily acrylics and prefers to paint on treated masonite or canvas. From 1974 until 1990, he printed many of his paintings and sold them to frame shops as well as in his own retail companies under the names "Nature's World in Print" and "Wilderness Prints, Inc." Tom also enjoys carving in both wood and stone.
 After moving to Cape Coral, Tom spent much of his time conducting telemetry research on burrowing owls in the area for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. During the first 3 years, he monitored 114 owls to determine their survival rates, their dispersal parameters, and their ability to cope with the ever-increasing development of the area. Tom serves on the board of Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife, and volunteers for CROW (Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife), handling and transporting injured wildlife. He is also an adjunct professor at Edison College in Fort Myers. |
|
