Laurel Foenander says she paints to express wonder and joy in the natural world. Birds and animals are her main subjects. She spends a great deal of time watching them, she says, to absorb their mannerisms and character and to check that details of behaviour or environment are accurately depicted. Her work is respected by aviculturists, including her father who passed on his passion. Laurel works with pastels which she describes as a "robust and tactile" medium where colours seem to flow straight from her fingertips and where she can coax or bully a suggestion of fur or feathers, or a play of light on flowers and leaves. Laurel balances her passion for birds and animals with still life, flower studies and nudes.