Art and Nature
Nature is infinitely inspiring when it comes to art. From colour palettes, shapes, textures, and vistas, to creating art from nature, the natural world has so much to offer.
Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time hiking and exploring around our town. Spending time up on the mountains, in the forests, on the beaches, and on the frozen lake, I am always amazed by what I see. As an artist, it is hard to compete with such natural beauty all around, but I find that different elements of nature bring inspiration and even motivation to create art. Have you ever noticed how nature creates colour palettes that just work so well together?
For instance, the pink wild rose blooms on their bright green background in June, or the dark purple Saskatoon berries against their yellow leaves in fall. Sunrises and sunsets are always stunning, even the varied, brooding shades of grey and yellow with a winter sunrise. It’s fun to try and capture these colours and use them in a painting.
I’m always on the lookout for textures as well - frost patterns, snowflakes, or water erosion patterns etched on rocks. Did you ever make leaf rubbings with crayons as a kid? What a fun way that was to capture some of the textures of nature!
Nature has also perfected pleasing shapes and compositions, such as the way a low hanging cloud outlines the shapes of trees along a mountain ridge, or the way blue sky draws your eye to the negative space between aspen branches on a winter’s day. When I’m out on my walks, I take a lot of reference photos to use as inspiration and motivation for creating art when I get home.
But sometimes, I like to create art right on the spot. One of my favourite things to do is to create rainbows from the natural objects around me. I’ve done this with all the multicoloured stones on Cottonwood beach, with fall leaves in the forest, or wildflowers along a roadside.
Other times, I make little vignettes with the nature I find, like a tiny snail shell vase or a giant snow sculpture.
Creating impromptu works of art in nature will help you capture a sense of fun with your art, without the pressure to create a masterpiece, because it is only temporary. It gets the creative juices flowing while giving you the added benefit of fresh air and exercise.
How does nature inspire your art?
Kristen Cooper has called Fort St James home for the last 12 years. She is a beekeeper, small
business owner, and artist. Kristen loves to paint and draw, but has dabbled in all sorts of art
forms from murals, digital art, and resin art, to more traditional crafting like sewing,
woodworking, and knitting. With her free time, she can be found hiking, rock climbing,
swimming, or taking ice dips in the lake. Her time outdoors really influences her art. You can
see her artwork in the banners located downtown Fort St James.