John Ivor Stewart was born in Northern Ireland, in July 1936. He studied at Belfast College of Art from 1956 to 1960, and later the Cardiff College of Art for his ADAE in 1973. He was a founding member of the Society of Botanical Artists, and was elected a member of the Pastel Society in 1987. He won the Major Prize as a non-member in 1986 and twice again as a member in 1992 and 1997.
In his time as a member of the Pastel Society, he served as Honorary Treasurer and Membership Secretary, and was elected President in 2009. Until 2017, he held the post of Education Officer for the Pastel Society. He retired as a full-time art teacher at Frensham Heights in 1990.
His paintings in the Societies' exhibitions were un-inhibited and full of passion, showing his admiration for women and his love of flowers and botanical studies. In conversations, he often expressed sadness at the disengagement from the voluptuousness in certain aspects of British art.
