Talented Artists Who Inspire Love for Nature
You’ve likely seen on this site that a huge part of its ethos is displaying and promoting beautiful art. England is still a green and pleasant land, but sometimes with issues like litter and streets of empty mobile phone shops, it’s nice to have a clear vision of what we can become (and return to).
That’s where talented artists help out. Teaching people to protect badgers is one thing – but have someone view a beautiful painting of a wild badger, will almost certainly inspire people to take action.
So for this post, we meet one of England’s most talented painters of the natural world: Julia Crossland
You may find Julia’s prints (on FSC-certified cotton paper) in local gift shops and galleries. Or else you can buy online. Just place in a nice picture frame, and you have affordable gorgeous art for your wall!
Robin Hood’s Bay (East Yorkshire) is where you paddle your toes, when completing Wainwright’s Coast-to-Coast Walk.
Julia is a Yorkshire artist who is inspired by the natural world, particular near her tiny terraced cottage in the Peak District. She loves bright uplifting colours that reflect the changing seasons, painted from her riverside garden studio.
Many paintings feature animals and birds (and little houses). To bring the coast and countryside to anyone’s home, and create a blissful escape away from the outside world.
Formerly working for NHS payroll, Julia was told she would never make it as an artist by a college art teacher?! When not painting, she enjoys walking, gardening, wild swimming and yoga. And autumn!
A Northern View is Julia Crossland’s Substack (a site where creatives share their latest writings). Here you’ll find a journal on her work and observations, plus peeks into her sketchbooks!
The good news is that Julia writes as well as she paints! These are lovely posts, and you are sure to feel inspired and relaxed. Also follow some of Julia’s life advice from her writings:
- Make time each week to do something you want to do.
- Spend time in nature, even if it’s just a cup of tea in your garden.
- Spend less time on social media. Like this site, Julia is uneasy about Instagram, as it creates stress to be ‘owned’ by those who see artists and writers they are ‘content creators’.
Gallery of Art by Julia Crossland
Holly Astle (uses art to campaign for nature)
Holly Astle is as feisty as her red hair, using her gorgeous art to campaign for wildlife, in a world more concerned with planning roads and dirty politics.
She even recently disassociated herself from a book she illustrated, due to finding out about the politics of the publisher.
Inspired by her Cornish surroundings, a lot of Holly’s work features coasts and the wildlife that’s found nearby.
Melissa Jan (fun art to make people smile)
Melissa Jan brings fun to our native birds and creatures, inspiring everyone to learn more about the natural world.
Living near Robin Hood’s forest home in Nottinghamshire, she only sends out work in sustainable packaging, to protect the wildlife that she paints.
Betsy Siber (fun nature art from the USA)
Betsy Siber is a fun Chicago artist, who often decides to paint something in a theme over 100 days, then posts the prints on social media (birds, animals, houses etc).
By bringing the fun into wildlife art, her paintings are helping to inspire people of all ages to look after creatures other than ourselves.
Her quirky characters are packed with colour, inspired by her history of costume design and making jewellery.
Melanie Mikecz (fun nature art of creatures worldwide)
Melanie Mikecz is another North American artist (from Wisconsin, who now lives in San Francisco).
Her fun and colourful paintings charm adults and children alike, sure to inspire the next generation to look after our fabulous worldwide wildlife!
Angela Harding (writes and illustrates nature books)
Angela Harding is one of our favourite artists, who works from a garden studio at the bottom of her garden, in Rutland (England’s smallest county). In an interview, she notes that as a child, while other children had pictures of pop stars on their walls, she had images of different birds!
Known for her attractive and unique lino-cut style art, Angela writes as well as she paints. She is author of several books, including a beautiful set of seasonal prone gift books:
Angela has also illustrated the covers for many other books including:
- Wilding (an illustrated guide to rewilding)
- The Extraordinary Life of Birds (a huge bumper book of avian love!)
Matt Sewell (art to foster love for birds)
Matt Sewell is a fantastic artist and ornithologist, whose art and funny writings have made him one of England’s most popular writers. He started off writing about birds, and now writes on all wildlife, including dinosuars!
Read our posts on creating safe havens for garden birds and how to stop birds flying into windows.
Forget boring fusty bird guides, Matt’s books are super-funny and interesting. You’ll love his writing, as much his art. The idea of course is to instil a real love of wildlife in all people, young and old. And he succeeds wonderfully!
A Mob of Emus: Emus are nearly 6 feet tall and certainly not afraid to look you in the eye. They are like a bunch of locals who gate-crash your party.
All weird haircuts and mono-brows, they’re funny and quite charming at first. Until they’ve drunk all your booze and things start to turn a bit nasty. So it’s probably best to avoid eye contact from the get-go. A Charm of Goldfinches (on nouns)
Matt’s bird illustrations are even now on stamps on the Isle of Man!
Matt’s books include:
