Laura Blackwood has been a professional freelance painter and illustrator for over 35 years. She has exhibited all over the UK and has paintings in private collections around the world.

Having graduated from Canterbury College of Art with a BA in Graphic Design in the early 1970's, Laura went on to pursue various freelance assignments while also studying at the Beshara School of esoteric education; a school for the development of spiritual understanding which continues to influence her life and work.

In the early 1980's she and her husband moved to the Scottish Borders where they founded a gallery and organised popular bi-annual exhibitions featuring contemporary artists from across Scotland and beyond. Laura also saw these exhibitions as an opportunity to engage children with art and arranged for local pupils to meet artists and learn about their work. She went on to set up independent, successful children's art classes in the local area, helping children to develop their artistic eye via meaningful interaction with the natural environment. These classes continued until 2005 with several of the young students going on to pursue further studies and careers in art.

In the early 1990’s Laura founded a successful greetings card company, and produced several illustrated series featuring birds, trees, flowers and recipes. The designs were an invitation to learn about and appreciate the beauty of our natural world, and the subjects were often drawn directly from Laura’s home and garden. The garden is itself a work of art almost 40 years in the making, and has been a constant source of inspiration for Laura’s art. The semi-wild woodland space allows birds, wildlife and diverse plant-life to thrive, and is also designed to encourage curiosity in and enjoyment of nature throughout the year.

 Years of observing and engaging with this garden and the surrounding countryside inspired Laura to create ‘A Celebration of Nature Through the Seasons’ - a hand-written and beautifully illustrated book which evokes a refreshing walk through the countryside in each season of the year.  Since then, Laura has been working hard to create illustrated calendars and greetings cards which have proved incredibly popular. And most recently, her work has been used to produce colourful jigsaw puzzles.

Read more about A Celebration of Nature and Laura’s other work, and take a look at Laura’s blog for the latest exhibitions and more.