Natalie started painting professionally shortly after moving to Shropshire in 2003, following her completion of a Fine Art Degree and a post-grad in Stage and Set design. She often works from photographs translated onto a large-scale canvas. The focus is then increased to enable the viewer to be surrounded and drawn into what becomes a detailed perception of colour, form, movement, and texture.

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The subjects themselves are just the starting point to study these elements; the effects of sunlight and shadows are also having an increasing effect on her work; the subtlety of colours captures a unique moment. Each subject is so different, offering delicacy and detail but at the same time strength and vitality. It’s these differences that fascinate.

Natalie tries to capture that essence in her work. She wants the viewer to have an experience that is beyond that of the image itself; therefore, the scale of her work is important. By enlarging the scale, the nature of the subject is intensified, and enables the viewer to become surrounded by the beauty of the subject. Her interests range from capturing the delicacy of a petal or feather while also showing the strength within the subject; this is then emphasized by the plain background, where a minimum distraction is sought.

Whilst Natalie’s work is discernibly representative, her aim is for the viewer to feel drawn into a speculative concept of colour and shape. The medium is oil built up in layers over time to create a vivid and translucent finish, it also benefits by creating a depth and intensity of colour, enhancing the drama and whimsy.

The main ingredient in Natalie’s work is nature and is enormously important to her. The natural world displays incredible diversity and tenacity adjacent with transience and fragility. We can feel wonderment and delight and remember that we are connected to all living things, that we are part of something bigger.

Natalie’s work has been shown in Tokyo, Singapore, London, New York, and Australia. She had an article published in Artists and Illustrator’s magazine in 2007, Shropshire Living Magazine 2021 and has delivered several masterclasses as the prestigious West Dean College, Chichester, while also a regular Artist in Residence at Nature in Art in Gloucester. She was Artists and Illustrators Artist of the year finalist in 2023, has exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Lanesborough Hotel, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters at the Mall Galleries in London, and has just been invited to exhibit with the Royal Society of Arts.