The United Kingdom has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. If you are looking for some nature pictures to decorate your home or just for your own enjoyment, there are a number of options. Hence, this article will focus on these options.
Photography
Beautiful photos
There are some incredible nature photographers in Britain. Have a look at websites such as 'Uk Nature Pics' or 'Openviews.org' or, of course, the nature sections of the BBC or the WWF. You can buy prints of these photographs to frame and display on your walls. Some of the photographers specialise in certain areas such as flower photos, or forest images, so a good search on the Internet will help you to find some amazing nature photographs to suit your taste.
Photos to canvas
There are various companies available which will transfer photographs to canvas to an impressive piece of artwork to hang on your walls. Images of nature, either taken by professional photographers, or perhaps a photo that you have taken yourself which you are particularly pleased with, can be turned into a masterpiece. Most companies offer a choice of sizes from normal photo size to full poster size and with various effects such as pop art style, Banksy style or black and white.
Nature artists
Paintings of nature
Due to the beauty provided by nature around them, there is a large number of painters who produce impressive nature scenes. If you visit a particularly beautiful part of the country, look around for art galleries that show the work of local artists. A perfect example of this would be the town of St Ives in Cornwall which has a large number of galleries with local artists displaying their work for you to buy. In this way, you will have a very original memento of your holiday.
National Trust and other heritage organisations
Organisations such as the National Trust ( see website) offer prints of many of their sites for sale. You can buy these either from the shop at the site which you are visiting or directly from the main website. Among the prints which you can buy from the National Trust, for example, are pictures of castles such as Bodiam, or of natural landscapes such as the Brecon Beacons or the Giant's Causeway.
Last word
It is easy to find beautiful nature pictures in the UK, but the difficult part is choosing which ones to buy.
The lyrical countryside and the bloody history of Ireland have inspired artists for many years. This article will look at a few Irish artists and their most famous paintings. Irish painting has become far more widely recognised in recent years with works by Irish painters reaching large sums at auction.
Early years
James Barry
James Barry is considered as a pioneer of Irish art, born in Cork in 1741. He spent much of his artistic life in London and Italy. His most famous work is Ulysses and Polyphemus painted in 1776.
Sir John Lavery
Sir John Lavery was born in Belfast in 1856 and trained in Glasgow, Paris and London. He was a friend of James MacNeill Whistler. His second wife, the Irish American Hazel Martyn featured in more than 400 of his paintings with perhaps the most famous being "The Artist's Studio: Lady Lavery with her Daughter Alice and Step-Daughter Eileen" which is currently in the National Gallery of Ireland. Lady Lavery was also the model for the figure of Ireland painted by Lavery and produced on Irish bank notes from 1928 to 1975.
Paul Henry
Paul Henry was another Belfast born artist who was born in 1876. His works of Achill Island, where he and his wife lived and painted for ten years and his paintings of Connemara have come to typify the idealistic view of Irish landscapes that many people have. He has many famous paintings to his credit including "In Connemara".
Contemporary and modern artists
Walter Frederick Osborne
Walter Frederick Osborne was born in Dublin and came to be seen as one of the top Irish exponents of Impressionism. He died tragically young of pneumonia at the age of 43. His most famous painting is 'Apple gathering' now in the National Gallery of Ireland.
Sean Keating
Sean Keating was born in Limerick in 1899 and trained at the National College of Art in Dublin. He died in 1977. His most famous work is 'Men of the South' painted in 192, depicting a group of IRA soldiers preparing for battle during Ireland's War of Independence.
David Nolan
David Nolan was born in 1966 and is famous as a portrait and landscape artist. He was born in Dublin and then, travelled to the USA, London, Copenhagen and Berlin. He has lectured in art at the College of Art and Design in Dun Laoire, Co Dublin. He is one of Ireland's best-known contemporary artists. His most famous painting to date is the portrait of the Reverend Ian Paisley.
Last word
A visit to the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin will show just what a wealth of artistic works has been produced in the country.
