The Artful Wild
A Patreon community for artists and nature lovers, created by Kelly Leahy Radding and Margaret Saylor
If you find yourself slowing down at the edge of a marsh, or crouching to look more closely at something small and overlooked — a feather, a seed pod, a bird on a branch — you are exactly who The Artful Wild is for.
Kelly Leahy Radding and Margaret Saylor are both professional studio artists whose work begins outside, in close observation of the natural world. The Artful Wild is the space where they share that practice openly: the looking, the thinking, the making, and the quiet discipline of building a creative life rooted in nature.
Each month follows a seasonal theme drawn directly from what Kelly and Margaret are seeing, painting, and thinking about in their own studios. This is not a fixed curriculum — it is a living creative practice, shared in real time.
Subscribe to The Artful Wild on Patreon to explore with us, stay inspired, and nurture your wild creative spirit.
What Kelly Brings
Birds, animals, and the wider wildlife world — observed on trails, in marshes, at feeders, on field trips near and far. Kelly works in dry brush watercolor on vellum, egg tempera, casein, and silverpoint, and shares her process with the same depth and care she brings to her studio work. Expect behind-the-scenes glimpses of paintings in progress, technique demonstrations, field notes, and honest conversations about what it means to build a sustained creative practice from a life spent in nature.
What Margaret Brings
Plants, fungi, and the botanical world — observed with scientific precision and painted with deep artistic sensitivity. Margaret Saylor is a professional studio artist who works primarily in graphite and watercolor on vellum, and egg tempera on panel. She brings a botanist’s eye and a teacher’s clarity to everything she shares, with a particular gift for making close observation feel accessible and joyful. You can explore her full body of work at margaretsaylor.com.
What You’ll Find Inside
Monthly content organized around a shared seasonal theme, including studio process and demonstrations, inspiration and reference resources, field observations and nature notes, and artist conversations.
Membership tiers:
The Observant Eye — $7/month
Monthly inspiration, prompts, and reference resources
The Artist’s Fieldbook — $20/month
Everything above, plus process demonstrations and behind-the-scenes studio content
The Wild Atelier — $40/month
Everything above, plus live Q&As and personal feedback from Kelly and Margaret
Full tier details are on our Patreon page. Go at your own pace — The Artful Wild is designed to support a steady, sustainable practice, not to overwhelm it.
Teaching & Workshops
The Artful Wild on Patreon
Kelly’s primary teaching home — an ongoing, subscription-based community where learning happens in the context of a real, evolving studio practice rather than a fixed course.
In-Person Workshops with Margaret Saylor
Kelly and Margaret are developing in-person workshop opportunities together. Stay tuned — announcements will come first to Artful Wild subscribers and this page.
Join The Artful Wild on Patreon
