Emma Nydam Artist

Emma Nydam Artist šŸŒæprints & posters available on etsy
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šŸŒ²follow along for the story of when my husband and I went hiking in the redwoods on the rainiest weekend in April :)Iā€™m ...
05/07/2026

šŸŒ²follow along for the story of when my husband and I went hiking in the redwoods on the rainiest weekend in April :)

Iā€™m a Washington girl all the way through, and I love the rain (& I miss it dearly here in California!). When the forecast for the weekend turned wet and gray, I was thrilled, and prayed that the rain would come while we were in the forest!!

It was a magical & perfect day. The sun shone in Big Sur on the drive down, and the rain came quickly - keeping the crowds away. We saw more banana slugs than we could count, and briefly crossed close paths with the a beautiful doe and fawn that watched us through the mist.

The past few months have been so busy with grad school and internship planning, & furthering my science illustration career & portfolio. Itā€™s the weekends like this - out in creation, enjoying the beauty of the world - that remind me why I love what I do. What a blessing it is to live in the same world as these redwoods and mushrooms and bright yellow slugs!!

Iā€™m finding my love of botanical illustration again, and took myself out of self-inflicted ā€œpine needle jailā€ to do this...
04/19/2026

Iā€™m finding my love of botanical illustration again, and took myself out of self-inflicted ā€œpine needle jailā€ to do this Monterey Pine page :)
(backstory: I have done 4-5 drawings and paintings that include pine needles in the last few months and the tedious nature of them has been infuriatingly satisfying AND frustrating- too many headaches šŸ˜‚ so I told myself I had to take a break for a bitā€¦)

These beautiful pine trees are endemic to the central coast of California, and I have had so much fun learning the different species here - while we still get to enjoy living in this beautiful place!

watercolor & brown micron pen ink, 8.5x11ā€

swipe to see all my inner thoughts & observations as I went field sketching at Point Lobos State Park :) After walkin...
04/12/2026

swipe to see all my inner thoughts & observations as I went field sketching at Point Lobos State Park :)

After walking around for an hour or so, I settled down on a trail on the north side of the park facing the monastery on the hills. The longer I sat, the more birds came to say hi - including many Pygmy nuthatches, some chickadees, and a couple vibrant Townsendā€™s warblers! I just couldnā€™t get enough of the colors on that cloudy, moody day šŸ©µ

another moment for the dragonfly ā¤ļøi chose to do this illustration from my own specimen (swipe to see!!), a black saddl...
03/28/2026

another moment for the dragonfly ā¤ļø

i chose to do this illustration from my own specimen (swipe to see!!), a black saddlebags dragonfly (Tramea lacerata) that I caught in Northwest Iowa in the summer of 2024. Theyā€™re a widespread species across the United States, easily recognizable by their dark wing patches.

The goal of this drawing was to ā€œidealizeā€ my specimen - to make it as perfect as possible, symmetrical, realign the wings and arrange the legs as if it were still alive. This was done by looking at many reference photos to compare with my dried specimen (which is inevitably shriveled and warped slightly).

The research, sketching, transferring, and stippling (inking with dots) took about 18-20 hours.

11x14ā€, micron pen ink on Bristol paper.
Currently at the - prints available in the museum & online soon!

a wonderful opening night at The Art of Nature exhibit at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History!! It was such a joy t...
03/28/2026

a wonderful opening night at The Art of Nature exhibit at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History!! It was such a joy to meet and chat with so many amazing artists and illustrators & admire their work.

Prints of my Black Saddlebags dragonfly, the Pacific Wren, and many more are available at the museum (& soon online too) šŸŒæ

last week in class we were assigned some color and texture studies, so I broke out my gouache (!!) and watercolor to pra...
02/11/2026

last week in class we were assigned some color and texture studies, so I broke out my gouache (!!) and watercolor to practice some nature patterns and details!

the top 6 mini paintings are all in watercolor, and the bottom 6 are in gouache. Gouache is still so new to me, but this was great practice for future projects. The whole paper is 9x12ā€, and each square is 2x2ā€ - perfect for fast studies! It made me want to do another 12 šŸ˜ and maybe use gouache for a full painting soon!

Day 4 of with - !!One of the greatest joys of living in California has been birdwatching, especially at the beachā€¦ ...
01/22/2026

Day 4 of with - !!

One of the greatest joys of living in California has been birdwatching, especially at the beachā€¦ I just want to paint them all! Every time Iā€™ve felt stuck in an art project or uninspired or faced any creative ā€œart blockā€, getting outside to just go on a walk and watch the birds has never failed to make me feel better. More often than not, Iā€™m ready to start painting more birds again :)

painted with watercolors on my favorite by :)

jumping in for day 3 (Bird Success!)of with birds !! Dickcissels are small birds native to the tallgrass prairies of ...
01/22/2026

jumping in for day 3 (Bird Success!)of with birds !!

Dickcissels are small birds native to the tallgrass prairies of the American Midwest, and theyā€™re in the Cardinalidae family. I chose them as an example for because they actually function as a sign of a healthy ecosystem. Theyā€™re reliant on the healthy, tall grasses and plants of the prairie to perch on and sing during their breeding season, and the their distinct song is often heard in a healthy or successfully restored prairie.

The tallgrass prairie is one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, with less than 1% of the original tallgrass prairie biome in the US still in existence. Itā€™s exceptionally diverse, with over 300 species of birds, hundreds of plant species, and thousands of species of insects. Iā€™ve painted 50 prairie plants and 20+ other native prairie mammals, insects, and birds - and I feel like Iā€™ve barely scratched the surface.

a page of happy little birdies :) this sketchbook is filling up and most of it is avian friends - Iā€™m working through pa...
01/08/2026

a page of happy little birdies :) this sketchbook is filling up and most of it is avian friends - Iā€™m working through painting my entire life list!

Spotted towhees are a recent favorite of mine - there was a whole bunch of them in my parentsā€™ backyard over Christmas, and they were the chunkiest little round birds, often parked on the feeder and eating lots of suet :)

painted with (my favorite) in an 8x10 Handbook journal by !!

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Lynden, WA

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