Laura Wilkins - Biography

I was born in Romania and now live and work in New Mexico. I built an early foundation in realism through charcoal and graphite drawings of everyday life before pursuing a degree in psychology at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Discovering that my true calling lay not in studying the human mind but in expressing it through art marked a pivotal turning point. My paintings have found homes around the world.

In 2019, I returned to watercolor painting and found myself drawn to birds. Over time, they became more than subjects — they became companions. Their flight echoed my own search for change and renewal, carrying with it a sense of hope, resilience, and the freedom to move forward even in uncertain times.

Nature, birds, and wildlife remain at the heart of my practice. Through them, I’ve learned to listen more closely to silence, to movement, and to the quiet strength that exists in the natural world. This series titled ‘The Air Between Us’ grew from years of painting in silence. Each bird carries something different: a sense of rest, the grace of flight, or the stillness of waiting. They are not simple illustrations, but important moments in time. Symbols of freedom, healing, and possibility. Owls, cranes, hummingbirds, eagles, bee-eaters — each rendered in delicate, deliberate strokes — carry with them solitude and hopefulness, but also a reminder that beauty and resilience exist even in the smallest movements of life.

I often incorporate salt into the wet paper, allowing pigment to shift and dry in unexpected ways, adding depth and dimension. Using traditional Chinese and Japanese brushes, I achieve fluid, precise linework that lends my birds a balance of looseness and realism. Each one is painted to capture not only form, but spirit — their unique character revealed through expression.

I hope that my paintings offer moments of calm, presence, and reflection — an invitation to pause.