Nature's Portraits

A Coloring Book of Scales, Tails, Furs, and Wings

Macnamara Peggy

When it comes to color, nothing can surpass the vast palette found in nature, from a bright green leaf in a sun-dappled forest to the rich red feathers of a cardinal and the muted greens, ambers, and browns that make up the shell of a tortoise. Wildlife artist Peggy Macnamara has been recreating the natural world through her drawings and paintings for decades, and, with "Nature's Portraits", she invites the rest of the world to join her.

"Nature's Portraits" offers sixty of Macnamara's detailed drawings that can be brought brilliantly to life with nothing more than a few colored pencils or crayons and a sense of wonder about the world around us. Many of the drawings depict animals as they might appear in their natural habitats – like a tree frog, a dashing, playful fox, a snowy owl poised for flight, a sauntering jaguar, and a watchful herd of giraffe. These wild furry and feathered friends are joined by animals found in museums, including Sue, the Field Museum's resident Tyrannosaurus rex. Each illustration is captioned with a brief scientific description of the species pictured.

Combining inspiration from natural history with a calming, creative activity, "Nature's Portraits" encourages us to take a closer look at what we miss when we don't take the time to stop and look with deep appreciation at the bounty of the natural world around us.

About the Author

Peggy Macnamara has been the artist in residence at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, for the past twenty-five years. She is also associate professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the author of "Painting Wildlife in Watercolor", "Illinois Insects and Spiders", and "Architecture by Birds and Insects", the latter two also published by the University of Chicago Press.

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