Jennifer Dalton Wildlife and Nature Art

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Ottawa, ON
Jennifer Dalton Wildlife and Nature Art

Dr. Jennifer E. Songbirds and aquatic birds are among my very favourites.

Dalton | PhD (Law)
Multi-award-winning Professional Fine Artist 🎨
Former Professor 🏛️
Specializing in highly detailed realistic art, handmade with heart, passion & precision ✨
Animal & human justice ⚖️
Welcome to my Studio 🖼️
©2026 ABOUT THE ARTIST

I am a Canadian wildlife and nature artist who illuminates the light and souls of birds, animals, flowers and nature in my artwork. My primary medium is soft pastel, although I occasionally work in other mediums, including acrylic, watercolour, coloured pencil, charcoal and graphite.

My artistic style focuses on realism and hyperrealism. I enjoy working with vibrant, unusual and dazzling colours to give joy to viewers and uplift the Spirit.

As I have continued to build my portfolio, birds have become a key area of my focus. I also have a particular affinity for bringing flowers to life in my artwork.

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND & ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT

I started exploring art after a mid-life career change. My first career was as a professor and researcher, after obtaining four degrees, including a PhD in Law. I subsequently transitioned into practice as a professional spiritual advisor and intuitive. In the last few years, I began delving into visual arts, first learning graphite sketching through the Robert Bateman Nature Sketch program, and then subsequently expanding to various other mediums, including coloured pencil, watercolour, charcoal and acrylic. I pursued much of this learning independently.

As I continued experimenting with different mediums, I discovered soft pastel, which quickly became my favourite medium because of the vibrant colours, pure pigments and tactile feel. Soft pastel is also the perfect match for my realistic style and depictions of sleek feathers, vibrant flowers and soft fur. Through continuous practice, dedicated study and refining my techniques, I have developed a distinct approach to capturing wildlife and nature with fine precision and realistic detail.

RECOGNITION & COMMUNITY

I am active in many online art communities and endeavours. In addition to continually expanding my portfolio, I have won awards and recognition for excellence in multiple juried international art competitions and exhibitions.

MISSION & VISION

My background as a spiritual advisor and intuitive deeply informs my artistic practice. It allows me to connect with the unique energy of each being and translate that essence into my artwork.

My overall objective is to showcase the inherent beauty and light in living creatures, to reveal their souls and sentient natures. I have held these beliefs and values about the natural world since I was a child, and I consider it an honour to help promote these ideals with my artwork.

I hope to help develop greater public awareness of the value of animals and all living things as beings who are worthy of deep respect, care and protection. Through my artwork, I envision a world that upholds and honours conservation, peace and respect for all sentient beings.

09/15/2026

✨ 🏆 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION: "Eternity" Featured in the Almenara Collection 🦢🦢

🌟 I am honoured to share that "Eternity" is now officially featured in the 2026 Almenara Art Prize International Online Exhibition! 🎉

This curated showcase remains live in their Online Gallery for the entire year, highlighting chosen works within the Wildlife and Animal category 🪶🐾

When I created this piece, I intuitively connected with the energy of these two Swans as a pair to capture their Divine partnership 🕯️

The soul symbolism of Swans their beautiful life-long bond inspired this piece 🦢🦢

I focused on creating an ethereal atmosphere of light and shadow, using the full range of values layered in soft pastel 🎨

My goal was to create the emotional depth, tenderness and Divinity of eternal love 🤍

It is a true privilege to stand alongside so many exceptional international wildlife artists in this global collection 🌿🙏

🖼️ Title: "Eternity"

🥈 Silver Award from Camelback Gallery

📏 Size: 22.5 x 14.5 inches (57 x 37 cm)

📜 Surface: PastelMat

🖌️ Medium: Soft pastel
🎨 Brands include PanPastel Artist Pastels; pastel pencils by Derwent, Gioconda, Caran d'Ache, CarbOthello and Faber-Castell; pastel sticks by Unison, Sennelier, Schmincke and Rembrandt

📷 Reference Photo: Photographer Andreas Glöckner via Pixabay

✨ Which detail in this soft pastel piece speaks to you most today?

🔗 See the comments section below for links to "Eternity" in the Online Exhibition as well as to the full Wildlife and Animal Online Gallery 😊

09/14/2026

🍁 "ETERNAL AUTUMN": Tactile Textures and Golden Autumn Light 🍂

Thick layers bring this crisp landscape to life ✨

I loved using heavy-bodied acrylic paint for the final top layers of this piece to build physical texture and a highly tactile surface 🎨

The thick paint gives the foreground foliage noticeable dimension and weight and allows the final details to stand out 🍂

I selectively applied a palette knife to create the glassy water marks, shape the distant shoreline and add texture to the grass and top leaves 🌿

Artwork details:

🍁 Title: "Eternal Autumn"

📏 Size: 12 x 16 inches (30.5 x 40.5 cm)

📜 Surface: Extra-fine canvas

🖌️ Medium: Acrylic - Liquitex Artist Materials heavy-bodied and regular paint

📷 Reference: None (my own original composition)

What is your favourite thing about Autumn? 🍂😊

09/13/2026

✨ EARTH, AIR AND WATER: "Meeting by the Water" 🦆🦆

Very few creatures navigate between earth, air and water with such effortless grace 🪶

Earth provides stability in the physical world 🌿

Air symbolizes an open mind, the freedom of new ideas and spiritual elevation 🪽

Water reflects emotion and the unconscious mind 🌊

Ducks effortlessly bridge these worlds. They show us how to move through complex life transitions gracefully 💫

Their waterproof feathers repel moisture completely. The water literally rolls right off their backs 😊

They show us how to navigate deep emotional waters without sinking. This provides a beautiful lesson in natural resilience 🪶

Ducks also represent strong partnership and deep emotional support 🦆🦆

The pair in "Meeting by the Water" perfectly reflects this profound connection. They remind us of the value of facing life's currents together 🌷

Which element do you feel most drawn to right now: Earth, Air or Water? 🌟

I loved creating this original composition in coloured pencil. I drew inspiration from two separate reference photos from Pixabay 📷

Artwork Details:

🖼️ Title — "Meeting by the Water"

✏️ Medium — Faber-Castell Polychromos coloured pencils

📜 Surface — Arches Papers hot-pressed watercolour paper

📏 Size — 9 x 12 inches (23 x 30 cm)

09/12/2026

🍁 UPLIFTING AUTUMN ENERGY: "Tangerine Radiance" 🍂

Today is National Day of Encouragement! 🌟

I wanted to share "Tangerine Radiance" as a source of uplifting energy 🌹🍊

Orange roses are synonymous with Autumn 🍁

Their vibrant colour reflects the welcome feeling of the upcoming crisp season, and hopefully cooler temperatures soon 🌙

Symbolically, they share a beautiful connection with the season 🍂

Orange roses represent enthusiasm and encouragement, fitting perfectly with the theme of today 🌼

They also represent gratitude and thanksgiving, harvest and abundance, comfort and reflection 🌾

What brings you encouragement as we transition into a new season? 😊

ARTWORK DETAILS

🍂 Title: "Tangerine Radiance"

🍂 Medium: Soft pastel pencils and soft pastel sticks for the rose; black gouache and pearlescent PanPastels for the background

🍂 Surface: White PastelMat by Clairefontaine

🍂 Size: 7 x 9.5 inches (18 x 24 cm)

🍂 Reference Photo: Inspired by a photo from Vincent Simard via Pixabay

The full artwork is in the comments section below 🌹

09/11/2026

🐾❄️ DOUBLE HONOURABLE MENTION: Celebrating the Spirit of the Snow Leopard in this Final Worldwide Competition 🏆

My soft pastel pieces, "Majesty" and "Wisdom", both earned Honourable Mentions in the Snow Leopard Conservancy's final international competition 🌟

Artists and writers from around the world submitted works spanning every visual medium and poetic style to support this vital cause 🌏

This milestone is a tremendous honour and holds deep meaning, in part because it marks the final year that the Conservancy will hold this event 🏔️

Two days ago was Himalaya Day, a time to honour the extraordinary mountain system spanning Asia, that serves as the true home of the Snow Leopard ❄️

Recent glacier breaks and sudden landslides directly threaten these fragile habitats and mountain wildlife 🐾

While global attention rightly focuses on the human communities affected by these shifts, we must also remember the profound toll on wildlife 🌿

This competition provided a meaningful opportunity to keep the spotlight on these incredible creatures and the fragile, changing region they call home ✨

I created "Majesty" and "Wisdom" with a deep spiritual meaning in mind 🕯️

They represent the masculine and feminine intertwined and united as one from a Divine perspective ☯️

I created both pieces on dark grey Clairefontaine PastelMat (12 x 9 inches, 30.5 x 23 cm) 🖼️

I am including the certificates in the comments below 😊

09/10/2026

GUIDING STAR: A Massive Milestone for "Indigo" 🌠🪶

I shared a macro view of "Indigo" a while back, and that post has now reached nearly 30,000 reactions and almost 1,000 shares! 💎

Thank you so much to my dedicated community for this phenomenal milestone 🌌

Please see the comments below for a link to the post 🪶

Light refracts off the feathers of an Indigo Bunting to create their striking blue and purply hues ✨

Translating this brilliance through soft pastels connects directly to my purpose as an Artist: to bring light, truth and beauty into the world 🕯️

Indigo Buntings navigate their night migrations by looking to the stars 🌌

My hope is that sharing this insight provides a moment of clarity and some extra light for anyone searching for their path forward 🌟

🖼️ Title: "Indigo"

📏 Size: 12 x 9.5 in (30.5 x 24 cm)

📜 Surface: Light grey PastelMat by Clairefontaine

🎨 Medium: Soft pastel pencils by Derwent Art, Caran d'Ache, STABILO CarbOthello and Faber-Castell; soft pastel sticks by Sennelier and Schmincke; and PanPastel Artist Pastels

📷 Reference: Pixabay

Do you have a favourite constellation or star you look for in the night sky? ⭐

09/09/2026

WORK-IN-PROGRESS WEDNESDAY 🐅 Soft Pastel Tiger

Today for Work-in-Progress Wednesday, I am sharing my latest progress on this soft pastel Tiger ✨

I have laid down a very loose initial underlayer across the surface, focusing on the eyes, fine fur around the eyes and the top left area 🐯

More generally, I work from the top left down to the bottom right to keep the finished areas clean as I progress 🖌️

The size of this piece is 10.5 x 13 inches (27 x 33cm), and I am working on beige Pastelmat by Clairefontaine 📜

🎨 Supplies for this piece include soft pastels by Sennelier, Schmincke and Unison, PanPastels and pastel pencils by Derwent, Sennelier woodless, Gioconda, Faber-Castell, Caran d'Ache and CarbOthello.

More progress coming soon! 😊

09/08/2026

🌼 REMOVER OF OBSTACLES: "Daffodil Discovery" 🐭

Never underestimate the wisdom of the humble Mouse 🌿

Across traditions, the Mouse embodies heightened awareness, meticulousness and adaptability, carrying secret knowledge and deep humility 🌱

In Indigenous traditions, Mouse symbolism focuses on courage, resourcefulness and attention to detail 🌾

Their message reminds us that physical smallness does not dictate strength — bravery and persistence matter most ✨

As a totem, spirit animal and humble pathfinder, the Mouse symbolizes the ability to examine life closely, guiding people through complex teachings while appreciating vital truths 🐾

The idea of the Mouse as a symbol for the remover of obstacles is rooted in Eastern traditions. For example, Hindu belief prominently honours the Mouse in this role 🕯️

This delicate creature represents an unexpected approach to problem-solving through subtlety and precision 💫

Mice navigate the narrowest spaces, untangle hidden problems and enter places where larger forces cannot fit ✨

Resolute focus, steady patience and sharp intelligence allow the Mouse to complete massive tasks with small, directed force 🌾

Wisdom, adaptability, humility and resourcefulness clear barriers far better than physical size or attempted dominance 🪷

That same meticulous attention to detail guided my work on this piece, requiring fine control to capture his soft, realistic fur 🐭

I relied heavily on Sennelier Woodless Pastel Pencils to build the finest layers of fur detail, while maintaining rich colour saturation 🖍️

For the details, I also used pastel pencils from Derwent Art, Koh-i-noor Gioconda, Caran d'Ache, STABILO CarbOthello and Faber-Castell Pitt 🖌️

For the background, I used PanPastel Artist Pastels, and soft pastel sticks from Sennelier, Schmincke, Unison Colour and Rembrandt 🎨

Special thanks again to The Mouse family that live by the brambles for permission to use his wonderful reference photo 🙏

This pastel was recently featured on his page, where it reached an incredible milestone of over 4,000 reactions 💎

What did you notice first in this artwork—the Mouse, the daffodil or the background? 🌼

🖼️ Title: "Daffodil Discovery"

📏 Size: 11.25 x 9 inches (28.5 x 23 cm)

🎨 Medium: Soft pastel on PastelMat

📷 Reference photo: with permission from The Mouse Family that Live by the Brambles

09/07/2026

🦜 VIBRANT SPIRIT: The Meaning Behind "Emerald" 🪶

The striking combination of green, turquoise and yellow carries profound natural energy and deep spiritual meaning 🕯️

Colour energy is a way of perceiving, knowing and interpreting energy, where specific hues carry distinct psychological and spiritual frequencies that influence how we experience them ✨

Green energy represents healing, emotional balance, personal growth and a deep connection to the heart centre 🌿

Blue energy represents calm, clear communication and inner peace, connected to voice, will and vocal expression 🌊

Turquoise energy combines the calm of blue with the growth of green to promote emotional balance, clear communication and inner serenity 💎

The physical turquoise patch just above his beak perfectly bridges these green and blue energies across the feathers of this Turquoise-Fronted Amazon parrot 🪶

The striking blend of celestial turquoise-blue and terrestrial emerald-green mirrors the meeting of sky and earth, bringing harmony between physical survival and spiritual insight 💫

As a premier mimic, this bird presents a profound metaphor for discernment—reminding us to learn from our environment without losing our original voice to mere repetition 🌌

As a spirit animal and totem, he carries an empowering message to practice conscious speech, reclaim our authentic voices and shift our perspectives during times of transition 🌠

He encourages us to stay alert to new opportunities while remaining vigilant and sharp-sighted 🌟

His presence also represents the profound benefits of embracing colour therapy 🌈

✅ Which of these energy colours—green, blue or turquoise—resonates most with you today?

Artwork Details:

🖼️ Title: "Emerald"

📏 Size: 11" x 11" (28 x 28 cm)

🎨 Surface: Clairefontaine PastelMat

🖌️ Medium: Soft pastel pencils from Derwent Art, Caran d'Ache, Koh-i-noor Gioconda, STABILO CarbOthello and Faber-Castell

📷 Reference photo: Amy Irizarry via Pixabay

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Online Fine Art Studio
Ottawa, ON

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