Johan Scherft was born in 1970 in Leiden, the Netherlands. At an early age he showed great talent in drawing, and also an interest in animals and nature. The birds he observed inspired him at a young age to make birds out of paper, hand-coloured with coloured pencil. With these self-created models, and other drawings, Scherft was accepted to the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. After studying graphic design for two years, Scherft switched majors and began to study free painting and drawing, in which he graduated in 1993. Johan Scherft has been working as a free artist since then, working in various disciplines such as painting, etching, drawing and illustrating. The themes of his oilpaintings are varied, but nature is the most important source of inspiration.
