Gerald Coulson has had a passion for airplanes since he was a young boy. Though this enthusiasm would eventually lead him to create some of the most renowned paintings featuring aircraft, Coulson began his career with an apprenticeship as an aircraft engineer and then worked as a technician for the Royal Air Force and British Airways. Eventually, Coulson combined his love of aircraft with his natural artistic talent by illustrating the service manuals for civil and military aircraft. In 1969, Coulson combined these into a professional fine art career. Coulson founded the Guild of Aviation Artists and has won the Flight International Trophy for outstanding aviation painting four times. The Fine Art Trade Guild has also placed Coulson in the top ten best selling artists 15 times.

Though Coulson has been painting for over 30 years, he has never had any formal training. For this reason, his prodigious talent seems all the more impressive. Coulson has exhibited his work over the world to much success; a recent one-man show in the United Kingdom attracted more than 3,000 people in two days. Though Coulson’s favorite subject to paint is undoubtedly aircraft, he also enjoys painting portraits, landscapes, and race cars.