BYRON BAY, NSW - ARTIST RETREAT: 13 - 16 August 2026 - 25% Deposit $425.00 ($1,700.00)

🖌️ Bird Art Retreat with Angela Parr

Capture the essence of birds in pastel at Byron Bay Wildlife Sanctuary!

Enjoy a four-day wildlife art experience with opportunities to see owls and other birds up close, as part of an immersive nature art retreat at the beautiful Byron Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. 

Over four days create an artwork of a Barn Owl you will be proud of. Angela will teach you everything from paper preparation, easy transfer of image, correct composition, techniques for backgrounds that look realistic, as well as tackling complicated white and patterned feathers, beaks, eyes and claws. The whole bird will emerge before your eyes. Utlising all forms of pastels (pans, sticks and pencils) you will learn how to prepare your paper to best ensure strong contrasts of light and dark, practise working clean to preserve your hard sharp edges, while also creating a 3-D effect with muted backgrounds. 

This Sanctuary aims to create awareness of the importance of respecting our natural world, by offering experiences that enable visitors to leave feeling fulfilled, with a newfound understanding and enjoyment of what Australia’s natural flora and fauna has to offer. Every dollar spent at the Sanctuary is reinvested in the conservation, rehabilitation, and future of Australian Wildlife.

🐦 What You'll Experience:

• Create a beautiful pastel artwork of the Barn Owl
• Explore pastel techniques to achieve sensational bird portraits
• Develop your skills in texturing, shading and natural patterns of feathers, eyes, and feet through focused exercises and create a finished artwork of our feature species.

🌿 Your Retreat Includes:

• 4 days of art, nature and science workshops
  
• Breakfast and lunch professionally catered using delicious local ingredients
• Morning and afternoon tea each day
• Guided nature walks around the sanctuary and full access to the sanctuary to attend Keeper Talks and wildlife presentations
• Face-to-face visits for 15 minutes with Socrates, the Barn Owl and Jezebel, a Red-tailed Black Cockatoo (on alternate days) to allow photography, sketching and colour mapping
• Expert art guidance from Angela Parr, including 16 hours of tuition
• Retreat support with Alan and Julia Landford, NatureArt Lab Directors

🧭 What to Bring:

• Your pastel art supplies (a full materials list will be provided)
• Comfortable walking shoes, water bottle, sun protection (hat, sunscreen) for sanctuary walks

Whether you're a seasoned artist or a beginner, this retreat is a nurturing space to explore creativity with pastels.

🎨 Spaces are limited. Don’t miss this chance to sketch, learn, and unwind!

Dates: 13 - 16 August 2026 (3 nights, 4 days)

• Thursday 13 August, 12.00 noon - 4.00pm
• Friday 14 August, 8.00am - 4.00pm
• Saturday 15 August, 8.00am - 4.00pm
• Sunday 16 August, 8.00am - 2.00pm

Location: Byron Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, Hinterland Way, Knockrow, NSW

Accommodation: Own arrangements with many options including: Lennox Beach Resort, Lennox Head Apartments, Reflections Holiday Park, Crystalbrook Byron, and many other AirBnB options. 

Transport (Optional Extra): We can arrange a private pick up for participants from Lennox Heads to Byron Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 11.00am on 13 August, and a transfer back to your accommodation each day. The cost is $100 per person to contribute to the cost of the hire vehicle. 

Cost: Total price $1,700.00. Deposit $425.00 (25% of total payment, non-refundable), Balance of $1,275.00 per person is payable by 31 July 2026. 

To secure your place for this artist retreat, we suggest booking early; Bookings close on 31 July 2026. 

Our team: 

Julia Landford - Artist Retreat Leader

Julia Landford is the Founding Director of NatureArt Lab and brings substantial experience with natural history, nature journaling and tour management. Julia is passionate about nature and environmental education, and is also a practicing artist and nature journaler. She is the Founding President of the Australian Nature Journaling Association (ANJA), and was awarded the Environmental Educator of the Year (ACT) by the Australian Association for Environmental Education (2019).

Angela Parr - Guest Artist

Angela Parr is an award-winning artist, who has been drawing and painting for as
long as she can remember. Since 2017, she has focused almost solely on Pastels,
utilising all forms, the Pan Pastel, the Pastel Stick and Pastel Pencils, owning literally
hundreds of each, to get “just the right shade” for her highly detailed, realistic
artworks.

Her achievements are impressive – a four-time finalist in the Holmes Prize for Realistic
Bird Art, a twice-finalist in both The WAMA (Where Art Meets Nature), and The
Waterhouse Natural Science and Art Prize, a three-time Honourable Mention and a 4 th
place in the coveted International Annual Pastel 100 Award, a twice finalist in the
Richeson 75 Animal Competition, three times People’s Choice winner in The Pastel
Society of Australia, twice Honourable Mention in The Pastel Guild of Europe, as well
as numerous other Honourable Mentions, Highly Commendeds, Distinctions and
People’s Choice awards, both nationally and internationally. She was also one of the
selected artists for Sir Quentin Blake’s 90 th  Birthday Bird Art Book.

After a solid career in secondary teaching, Angela went on to study Graphic Design as
well as Veterinary Nursing. As passionate about animals as she is her art, Angela’s
artworks reflect her life. African and Australian native animals and birds feature
strongly in her work. Her subjects tend to be both the “popular” ones as well as those
less well-known but in desperate need of recognition and often conservation. All
animals have dominated her work over the years, including precious pet portraits,
and she has also been known to delve into human portraits and landscapes from
time to time.

Angela’s artworks assist in the preservation of our native species, through public
awareness and by her donations to local wildlife charities, namely the Byron Bay
Wildlife Hospital and Sanctuary, and the Australian Seabird & Turtle Rescue.
She is a committee member of The Pastel Society of Australia (PSA), Society of Animal
Artists and a member of The Queensland Wildlife Art Society (QWASI).

Alan Landford - Co-Director

Alan Landford has a scientific background in zoology, specialising in entomology from the Australian National University. He also has substantial wildlife experience from Australia and Papua New Guinea, and other regions. 

Nature Tour Cancellation policy:

We recommend that participants take out comprehensive travel insurance against injury, illness, emergency medical evacuation, loss and damage to personal belongings, not being able to travel on a confirmed date of departure or tour cancellation due to unforeseen circumstances.

Any cancellations after the deposit is paid will incur loss of the full deposit, which helps to cover our costs for design and management of the tour program and early supplier costs incurred.

For cancellations 120 to 60 days before departure 50% of the cost of the tour will be forfeited. If cancellation takes place 59 days or less before the start date 100% of the tour cost will be forfeited.

If NatureArt Lab has to cancel a nature tour due to undersubscription, you will receive a refund of all payments made for that tour.

Please contact us at info@natureartlab.com.au if you have any questions.

Images: Barn Owl photos, Byron Bay Wildlife Sanctuary; Socrates pastel original artwork by Angela Parr