NatureArt Lab Blog

31 May marks World Parrot Day — a day to celebrate the beauty, intelligence and vulnerability of parrots around the world, and to reflect on how we can better understand and protect them.

I first learned about the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize several years ago. Yet, immersed in teaching, working in the bush, travelling, and painting, I rarely found the time to pursue it seriously - until this past year. At last,...

An award-winning, full-time artist, Libby Derham is a fourth-generation watercolourist. She won the Annie Tan Memorial Watercolour Award (Queensland Regional Art Awards) (2021) and has been a finalist in multiple local and national awards. She completed art training at Surrey Institute of Art and Design in the UK (1996-1998). 

Pushing traditional into experimental watercolour, Libby looks for new ways of working with the medium’s dynamic fluidity and transparent qualities, mixing with pigment. An appreciation for the natural world informs Libby's practice. The work seeks to capture her sensory experience within it and the immersive qualities of En plein air. 

David Reynolds is a botanical artist from Melbourne who teaches in Canberra and Brisbane with NatureArt Lab.In this article talks about his art practice and the importance of getting to know your subject. He also asked the question about botanical art and gender. Hopefully more men will join this creative pursuit and enjoy the productive meditation the art of botanical painting provides.