Maryjo Koch
Dark Eyed Junco Nest with Dry Leaf, oil on canvas, 8 x 10 inches, 2011
Blackbird Nest, acrylic on board, 16 x 20 inches, 2012
Red-Winged Blackbird Nest with Eggs, gouache, 8.25 x 11, 2013
American Goldfinch Nest, watercolor and gouache on watercolor board, 8 x 10, 2012
Artist Statement
As a child I was always fascinated by the intricacies of nature. This grew to a greater love as I developed my ability to capture this with brush and paint. I fell in love with the beauty and detail of bird nests and bird eggs. This is my passion. It’s a challenge to capture the natural beauty and detail of each nest that I paint, either in watercolor, gouache, acrylic, or oils. Insects fascinate me as well as botanicals. I’ll often include these in my paintings of nests or on their own. It continues to amaze me of how a bird can build a beautiful and perfectly engineered nest with mostly just its bill.
About the Artist
Maryjo Koch is a naturalist painter and illustrator working from her studio in Northern California’s Santa Cruz Mountains. Largely self-taught, Maryjo began her career doing renderings as an environmental designer but soon returned to her childhood fascination with the world of nature. Her work combines authority and enchantment, and her paintings and private commissions are featured in galleries and museums from North America to Asia. She has illustrated over twenty books that are collected and treasured by people all over the world. Maryjo began teaching nature painting at both the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and at Monterey’s renowned Monterey Bay Aquarium. She now conducts workshops at her studio in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Her most recent book, The Artist, the Cook, and the Gardener (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2013), combines art, recipes, and gardening tips in a cookbook inspired by the garden in all seasons.
Maryjo Koch at Andrews McMeel Publishing
Lovely!