Contemporary Fine Artists from the UK and Around the World
This guide brings together a carefully selected collection of contemporary fine artists whose work explores the natural world, landscape, wildlife, animals, people and the many different ways in which artists interpret the world around them.
The artists featured here work in a wide range of media, including oil, acrylic, pastel, coloured pencil, watercolour, bronze and mixed media. Some are drawn towards close realism and careful observation, while others use colour, texture and abstraction to create a more expressive response to their subject.
Rather than attempting to create a comprehensive directory, this page is intended as a source of artistic discovery and inspiration. The artists are organised broadly by geographic location, with each bringing their own distinctive ideas, subjects and creative approach.
Exploring Different Approaches to Fine Art
Fine art can take many forms. Realist artists may seek to capture the detail and physical presence of a subject, while landscape artists often explore atmosphere, light and a sense of place. Wildlife and animal artists combine observation with an understanding of movement, behaviour and character.
Other artists move further from literal representation, using colour, texture, mark-making or abstraction to communicate an emotional response. There is no single way to interpret a landscape, animal or human figure, and exploring the different choices made by artists can be as rewarding as the finished artwork itself.
Fine Artists in the UK
England
Kate Tugwell
Kate is a highly talented and versatile artist, and a dear friend for many years. As well as an exceptional portrait artist, she is also highly regarded as a local art teacher. She leads popular classes in portraiture, mastering pastels and watercolour techniques, among many other mediums (based in West Sussex).
Adele Riley
Adele Riley is a contemporary British artist whose colourful landscapes, seascapes and floral paintings explore light, energy and atmosphere. Her expressive work is inspired by the natural world and the changing character of the British landscape (based in the Cotswolds).
Steven Townsend
Steven Townsend's wildlife and landscape paintings are tour de force in photorealism. Working in mainly acrylics, Steven's remarkably detailed approach has made his work highly sought after. Steven is a friend of my husbands and is not only a great artist but also a lovely person as well! (based in Lancashire).
Jo Lillywhite
Jo Lillywhite creates colourful semi-abstract landscape paintings inspired by the woods, fields and changing seasons of the British countryside. Her work uses vibrant layers of colour to capture not simply how a place looks, but how it feels (based in Oxfordshire).
Gill Bustamante
Gill Bustamante creates large, expressive semi-abstract paintings inspired by the British countryside, wildlife and changing natural light. Her work combines a strong connection to real places with an imaginative and atmospheric use of colour (based in Sussex).
Claire Westwood
Claire is a higly successful book illustrator, and a friend of mine since University days! Her ethereal illustrations merge the texture of household and enamel paints with the flexibility of digital mediums. Driven by the natural world, her luminous depictions of flora and fauna use color and light to create a captivating dreamlike atmosphere.
Angie Wallace Fine Art
Angie Wallace creates wildlife, equine and animal art with a particular focus on the character and beauty of the natural world. Her work includes original artwork, wildlife prints and commissioned animal portraits (based in Surrey).
Wales
Chris Chalk Art
Chris Chalk is a Welsh artist whose original oil paintings are inspired by landscape, wildlife and the natural environment. His work reflects a strong connection with the scenery and wildlife of West Wales.
Scotland
Lesley Wood
Lesley Wood is an equine and wildlife artist whose work includes original paintings, prints and commissioned artwork. She specialises in equine portraits created in pastel while also exploring a wide range of wildlife subjects.
Charlotte Marlow
Charlotte Marlow creates highly realistic wildlife, equine and animal artwork using coloured pencil and soft pastel. Her detailed work reflects a close observation of her subjects and a particular interest in the natural world (based in Edinburgh).
International Fine Artists
Europe
Suzana Stojanovic Suza
Suzana Stojanovic is an equine artist whose work centres on horses, landscapes and figurative subjects. Working across oil, pastel and pencil, she combines detailed realism with a strong interest in the mythology, symbolism and stories associated with horses (based in Serbia).
United States
John Mullane
John Mullane is a contemporary wildlife and landscape artist whose paintings and drawings celebrate the rhythm, light and quiet beauty of the natural world. His detailed compositions explore birds, wildlife and their relationship with the landscape (based in New York).
Jenn Royster
Jenn Royster creates expressive contemporary paintings inspired by wildlife, horses, nature and human experience. Working in oil and mixed media, she combines colour, texture and movement to create energetic and emotionally expressive work (based in Florida).
Nan Rae
Nan Rae is known for her contemporary interpretation of traditional Chinese brush painting. Her elegant work combines expressive brushwork with subjects drawn from nature, including birds, flowers and other organic forms (based in California).
Susan Savad
Susan Savad creates atmospheric paintings of suburban and everyday landscapes, finding visual interest and quiet beauty in familiar streets, neighbourhoods and the people who inhabit them (based in New Jersey).
Osnat Tzadok
Osnat Tzadok creates contemporary abstract paintings characterised by bold colour, texture and movement. Her work moves between abstraction and more suggestive references to landscape and nature.
Julie T. Chapman
Julie T. Chapman creates bold and colourful paintings inspired by wildlife, animals and the American West. Her work brings together strong colour, movement and an expressive approach to subjects ranging from rodeo scenes to wildlife.
Joy Kroeger Beckner
Joy Kroeger Beckner is a sculptor whose bronze work is rooted in classical realism. Her subjects include animals, hounds and the human figure, with an emphasis on form, movement and lasting craftsmanship (based in St. Louis, Missouri).
New Zealand
EJ Reece
EJ Reece is a New Zealand fine art photographer whose work includes film and pinhole photography. Her practice explores the distinctive qualities of analogue photographic processes and their ability to create atmospheric and contemplative images.
I’m Julie Palmer, a professional artist with more than twenty-five years of experience creating commissioned portraits, primarily in traditional pastel.
Working as an artist has given me a continuing appreciation of the many different ways in which other artists approach their subjects. From detailed realism to abstraction, and from the observation of wildlife to the interpretation of landscape, every artist brings their own experience, materials and creative voice to their work.
I’ve put together this guide simply as a celebration of that variety, and as a place to discover artists whose work may offer inspiration, provoke curiosity or simply be a pleasure to explore.
You can explore examples of my work or find out more about my background and artistic approach.