It's been hard to stay motivated to post art often these days. I've been working on some new pieces, but in the meantime, here's my African Penguin that I drew for Birdtober last year. #BirdArt #SciArt #FineArt #Copic #AnimalArt #ArtSky

#WeeklySketch Horses are weird, sorry! I'm planning to draw or paint one for Chinese New Year, so here's a quick 20 minute pen sketch as practice. #ArtSky #Mammals #SciArt #FineArt

A red-breasted nuthatch in cozy winter gear, celebrating the first bird I saw in 2026! Painted for a member of my tiny painting club. #birds #birdart #watercolor #art 🦉

One of my favorites from Birdtober, a Varied Bunting. I just love their unique coloration! #BirdArt #SciArt #FineArt #Copic #AnimalArt #ArtSky

I did a piece in honor of all the brave legal observers in Minnesota. Together we can drive out hate #iceout #iceoutmpls

Just finished my first painting of 2026, I’ce titled it ‘Woodpecker & Shadows’ - painted in watercolours. #watercolours #birdart #woodpecker 🪶

Here's something a little different from me - I've been wanting to do some nature based artwork for a while now, & I think I might have found my style for this with some artwork I made into family holiday greeting cards in December :) #wildlife #wildlifeart #birdart #markerart #paintmarkers #art

I drew a Garnet-throated Hummingbird based on this photo taken by my friend Alex Sundvall! Thank you for letting me use your beautiful photo. This little stunner is so charming. It looks like he's flaunting a nice evening gown 😁 #BirdArt #SciArt #Copic #FineArt #ArtSky #AnimalArt

#ABA Bird of the Year: Horned Lark! I love seeing these cuties in farm fields in the spring! I'm continuing my tradition of painting the bird of the year each January unintentionally. More on that in the thread! #BirdArt #SciArt #Watercolor #FineArt #AnimalArt #Artsky 1/3

A reminder that ICE hasn’t slowed down in Minneapolis at all. Outside of Minnesota, it might feel like everything has changed since Alex Pretti’s murder. But ICE hasn’t actually lost any power and they’re continuing to terrorize our communities.

#ICEOUT I love you, Minneapolis #BirdArt #SciArt #Watercolor

For this #WeeklySketch, I did a Shoebill study comparing Winsor and Newton and Holbein Artist's watercolors. They're pretty wacky birds, I may never see a wild one, but one can dream about global birding trips! #BirdArt #SciArt #Watercolor #FineArt #ArtYear #AnimalArt #monochrome 1/2

a little american goshawk with an important message for you all. for us in minnesota goshawks are a winter bird that we mostly get in the northern two thirds of the state #abolishice #americangoshawk #birdart #linocut #blockprint #art #printmaker

Day 5 for #BirdArtWeek2026 theme #RuleBreakers: the American Dipper. Dippers are the only aquatic songbird! #birdart #dippers #freshwater #pendrawing #wildlifeart #sciart #aquatichabitat #water 🪶 @cornellbirds.bsky.social @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social

First Life List painting of 2026, a California Condor soaring the skies! I specifically painted Condor 550, who I saw at Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP. I used my own photo of her as a pose reference! Watercolor and Chinese ink on Arches Cold Press #BirdArt #SciArt #Watercolor #FineArt #AnimalArt 1/3

Day 4 of #BirdArtWeek2026 with a Great Cormorant for #SpectacularSeabirds #birdart #cormorant #seabirds #wildlifeart #ballpoint #charcoal #pendrawing #sciart 🪶 @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social

It's #SquirrelAppreciationDay! Here are the two main species where I live: Red Squirrel and Eastern Gray Squirrel. I always love watching them get into mischief in my yard, even if they're little menaces to my vegetable garden! #Mammals #FineArt #Watercolor #AnimalArt #SciArt

House finches (𝘏𝘢𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘴) 🪶 #birds #birdart #illustration #sciart

This woolly kiwi isn’t a bird of flight, but of grounded peace.. This one flew to its forever home in Australia back in 2017✨ #birds #art #needlefelt #felt #sculpture #bird #kiwibird #kiwi #craft

I recently had my lifer Acorn Woodpeckers on my Monterey trip. They are so wonderfully talkative! I drew this right before the trip for Birdtober. The prompt list had many CA birds I was expecting, and I saw all but one! #BirdArt #SciArt #FineArt #Copic #AnimalArt 1/2

America Robin with a hawthorn berry. #lineandwash #birdart #wildlifeart #ohioartist #penandink #watercolor #drawing

#WeeklySketches I've been wanting to revisit the Chinese Xieyi painting style lately, something I learned almost 20 years ago but haven't kept up. I tried my hand at some native MN wildflowers. Paint tube for scale! Thread for my thoughts: #SciArt #Watercolor #FineArt #sketches #botanicalart 1/3

✨🌞 Golden Trevally sculptures 🐠 hanging out on corals 🪸 handcrafted from tiny glass beads ✨ A Reef Symphony 🌞✨ #ArtYear #Art #ArtGallery #ArtSale #BSNM #Sculpture #ArtGifts #CoralReef #Reef #Trevally #MarineLife 🦑🐡

If you want to help out the Twin Cities, there’s tons of folks who need your support! There’s tons of folks looking for mutual aid rn www.standwithminnesota.com

Venezuelan Troupial from Birdtober 2025. The cactus was a lot of fun to draw! #BirdArt #SciArt #Copic #FineArt #AnimalArt

Daily sketch #4 My beloved Cockatoos 💗 #bird #birds #ausbird #cockatoo #BirdArt #digitalsketch #sketch #ArtistsOnBlueSky #BuyIntoArt

#PortfolioDay I'm a wildlife artist, working mostly with watercolor and marker! Here are some of my favorite recent works. You can check out my stickers and prints on my webstore: annieshaoart.myshopify.com My website: annieshaoart.carrd.co #BirdArt #SciArt

I finished this on NYE and have since taken a better photo of it. Hermit Thrush on staghorn sumac. Trying to feature natural vivid colors to complement the beauty in our more subtly-colored Little Brown Birds! #BirdArt #SciArt #Watercolor #FineArt #ArtYear #AnimalArt #Nature

Spotted birds are so cute, they look like they're wearing some kind of sweater ❤️ Diamond Firetail from Birdtober 2025 #BirdArt #SciArt #Copic #Ohuhu #FineArt

European goldfinch in progress. Haven't painted on silk in a while. I forgot to photograph this with Customary Scale Penny (gasp), but the weave being clearly visible is some indication of its tininess.

I decided to try weekly sketches this year, because I have a habit of going too hard on my usual art pieces 😅 I went to go visit a Long-eared Owl on this very chilly morning, so I chose that as my first subject. #BirdArt #SciArt #FineArt #ArtYear #sketches 1/2

This week has been hard in the Twin Cities. I hung out with my local Birds and Beers group last night, because talking ad nauseum about birds with other birders was exactly what I needed ❤️ So today, I'm sharing my recent drawing of our state bird, the Common Loon. #BirdArt #SciArt #FineArt #Copic

Blue bird-of-paradise (𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘶𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘱𝘩𝘪) 🪶 #birds #birdart #illustration #sciart

This winter's @instbirdpop.bsky.social thank you card might be my favorite one yet! I painted a pair of Sandhill Cranes investigating Ackerson Meadow in #Yosemite, where ongoing restoration of the meadow did actually draw in some of these birds during our 2025 banding season! 🎨 🪶 #BirdArt #SciArt 🌎

#WIPWednesday California Condors were a big highlight of my Monterey trip! This is also going to be one of my largest paintings. #BirdArt #SciArt #WIP #ArtYear #AnimalArt #Watercolor #FineArt

First piece of the year! One of my trees has these parallel branches that squirrels love to curl up on, so much so that the bottom one has worn back where the squirrels sit. Trying to paint simply once in a while! #Mammals #SciArt #Watercolor #AnimalArt #ArtYear #FineArt 1/2

Apparently it's #NationalBirdDay! I didn't know about it because every day is bird day to me ❤️ But in honor of the day, here is some of my art that features threatened species #BirdArt #SciArt #Watercolor #FineArt #AnimalArt

Ringed Kingfisher from Birdtober 2025 vs Belted Kingfisher from Birdtober 2024. I did buy more marker colors between drawing these two, which is why Ms. Ringed turned out smoother. But I love comparing my skill over a year! #BirdArt #SciArt #Copic #Ohuhu #ArtYear #AnimalArt 1/2

Got this exquisite Trumpeter Swan pin from @foxfeather.bsky.social!

Starting off the year with some new art! I've had this idea in my head for awhile to paint simpl(er) pieces of the gray squirrels in my yard and their antics. They really love this set of branches in my linden! #WIP #Mammals #SciArt #ArtYear #Watercolor

Brand new, fresh sketch of another beautiful bird I'd never heard of (seriously, go look up photos of this one because wow!) Trying to find a looser style for some of the art challenges this year because I can't spend 100 hours on everything😅 #BirbFest Bronzewing Pigeon and #Januarty theme #fresh

One more piece before we ring in the new year! And my phone did a decent job with the photo. I'll take a better photo later, I just wanted to share it now! A Hermit Thrush enjoying some Staghorn Sumac. #BirdArt #SciArt #Watercolor #ArtYear #NearbyNature2025 #AnimalArt #FineArt 1/2

One more piece before we ring in the new year! And my phone did a decent job with the photo. I'll take a better photo later, I just wanted to share it now! A Hermit Thrush enjoying some Staghorn Sumac. #BirdArt #SciArt #Watercolor #ArtYear #NearbyNature2025 #AnimalArt #FineArt 1/2

Sitting a stewing in frustration isn't nearly as cathartic as just designing a poster. Let's see how often I remember that in 2026.

"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future." - @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit. Incredible words. Listen to all of it!

Even though 2025 was stressful, I feel I accomplished a lot. I had my second solo exhibit, started an art business and had 3 successful crowdfunding campaigns, finished Birdtober again, and completed around 66 pieces this year! #artvsartist #BirdArt #ArtYear #SciArt #FineArt #AnimalArt 1/2

Purple-crested Turaco from Birdtober this year. What beautiful phoenix-like wings they have! #BirdArt #SciArt #FineArt #AnimalArt #ArtYear #Copic

#ArtAdventCalendar Day 24 is one of my favorite pieces from 2025, a drake Bufflehead! #BirdArt #SciArt #ArtYear #AnimalArt #Watercolor #FineArt

This guy was just too beautiful not to share twice today. Day 23 of my #ArtAdventCalendar gets a second post because sometimes one look isn’t enough. Acrylic on Canvas #torilart #birdart #wildlifeart #painting #artistonbluesky #natureart #bluebird #animalart #contemporarypainting

#ArtAdventCalendar Day 23, a Field Sparrow. I loved painting the colorful wildflowers in this piece! Print available on my webstore: annieshaoart.myshopify.com/products/pri... #BirdArt #SciArt #BSNM #Watercolor #FineArt #ArtYear #AnimalArt #birdprints #artprints