Bringing Up Baby: An Art Exhibition Focusing on How Animals Parent

From pushy parent owls to clucky mother ducks, the different parenting styles of British wildlife are the focus of my summer art exhibition, running at my gallery in Thixendale from June 3rd- 25th.

Join me at my gallery in the beautiful Yorkshire Wolds for an unforgettable day browsing my latest detailed paintings, bronze sculpture and limited edition prints. My studio will be open so you can see my research photographs and I'll be showing the best video clips of the wildlife that has inspired me. I'll be there throughout the exhibition and my team and I will be serving refreshments - I hope to see you there.

Key Information:

Bringing Up Baby is at The Robert E Fuller Gallery, Fotherdale Farm, Thixendale, North Yorkshire YO17 9LS, from June 3rd-25th.

Opening times: 9.30am-4.30pm Weekdays. 10.30am - 4.30pm Weekends.

Admission is Free. Car parking: Parking at the gallery is free and there is plenty of space. Access: there is a ramp leading to the front door for wheelchairs and a disabled toilet.

My oak-beamed gallery is a haven for wildlife art lovers

Also see my bronze sculpture at the gallery

I've devoted years to studying the ways different species bring up their broods for this new series of detailed paintings and my new body of art work, which include scenes of foxes and cubs, curlews with chicks and even ducklings nestling under their mother, are the result of intensive studies of animal parents in the wild. Take a look at my latest original paintings here or click here to download my new catalogue and browse all my paintings.

Also on display are the individual stories of the animal families that informed my paintings. These tales spin out like timeless family sagas. Among them are the story of a pair of barn owls that became foster parents and the tale of a weasel who taught her tiny kits to become vicious killers almost from the moment they could walk. Read more about these individual stories.

Photographs and video clips also form a part of the exhibition and live footage streamed from surveillance cameras hidden in nests of owls, kestrels and stoats shows visitors exactly what goes on between animal parent and baby: from messy mealtimes to sibling rivalry.

Visitors can enjoy live action from cameras hidden in animal nests

I’ve learned so much about my painting subjects from these cameras. You get some creatures that are very hands off; birds that leave their chicks to fend for themselves as soon as they fledge, for instance. Whilst others keep their young close for months and spend time teaching them survival techniques. And still more, like cuckoos, that leave it up to another species altogether. Keep up to date with the latest film footage from these nest cameras by clicking here.

I've always been fascinated by the ways in which animals approach the task of parenting in the wild and I've taken in and reared wild creatures since I was a child, when I adopted a fox, a deer and even a little owl that I taught to ride on the handlebars of my bicycle. My latest charge is a weasel that sleeps in a sock beside my painting easel. Read more about my upbringing on a Yorkshire farm here.

In recent years I've used this knowledge to help persuade wild tawny owls and barn owls to foster chicks. The very best way to ensure these chicks survive on their own in the wild is for them to be cared for by wild owls, so I work alongside a wildlife rehabilitation unit to place chicks into the nest of a pair that live near my garden. Read this incredible story here.

Among other parenting techniques explored in this exhibition are those of common garden birds, migratory birds, such as swallows, and waterfowl - including great crested grebes that carry their chicks across lakes and pond, endearingly, on their backs. Click here for more on this touching parenting technique.

Falconry events, owl and badger safaris and bird watching walks also accompany the exhibition. Scroll down for more details of accompanying events, including birdwatching walks and badger safaris or go straight to my website to book on an event click here.