Catie Michel

The artist stands on the ground next to a huge red-winged blackbird flying through blades of grass against a pink background. A notebook is visible behind the artist, showing notes written in both Spanish and English about the blackbird.

A distant view of the large mural along a bike trail and native plants. Notebooks with plants and animals are painted along the mural under a blue and cloudy sky.

The artist poses on the ground next to a large raccoon against a pink background, next to a rabbit, butterfly, and blue grama grass. There is a notebook next to the raccoon with notes about mammal tracks in both Spanish and English.

Nature Notes: Sand Creek, a 3,915 sq ft mural featuring five field notebooks celebrating plants and animals of the Sand Creek Greenway.
Denver, CO
2025
#mural #sciart #wildlifeart #publicart #naturejournaling #birdart 🪶 #handpainted #muralart #natureart #fieldnotes #scicomm #naturalist #denverart

Thank you so much 💙

Nearly 30 organisms persist in a busy Northern CA tide pool, created for the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. A model of collective survival under pressure, free from supremacy and centralized power. Ink on Bristol, 11x17 in. #sciart #marineart #birdart #oceanart 🪶 🐙 #scicomm #tidepool

Thank you!!

A black egret in the midst of its umbrella/canopy feeding behavior, surrounded by a circle of flora and fauna of the Chobe River.

A black heron mid-pose in its umbrella/canopy feeding behavior, surrounded by fellow flora and fauna of the Chobe River.
Acrylic on birch, 36 x 36 inches.
#heron #chobe #wildlifeart #sciart #birdart #wetlands #natureart
#acrylicpainting 🪶

Ballpoint pen and charcoal drawing on grey toned paper of an American dipper standing in splashing flowing river water having just caught a caddisfly.

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

A Great Cormorant perching on rock is drawn in pen and charcoal on grey paper.

Day 4 of #BirdArtWeek2026 with a Great Cormorant for #SpectacularSeabirds

#birdart #cormorant #seabirds #wildlifeart #ballpoint #charcoal #pendrawing #sciart 🪶 @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social

An animated graphic showing wingbeats of different birds. This one is so beautiful.

Image: Eleanor Lutz

tabletopwhale.com/2014/09/29/f...

A common squirrel cuckoo is drawn perched on a branch with a whorl of leaves.

Day 2 of @cornellbirds.bsky.social #BirdArtWeek2026 for the prompt #HiddenBirds: a Common squirrel cuckoo. Not a terribly shy bird, but it took me ages to finally spot one amongst the leaves!

#cuckoos #birdart #birddrawing #ballpointpen #wildlifeart

A flying black-billed magpie is drawn with ballpoint pen and charcoal on grey-tones paper.

Day 1 of @cornellbirds.bsky.social #BirdArtWeek2026 with the prompt #BirdsWithWhimsy: the Black-Billed Magpie.
#birdart #magpieart #birddrawing #magpies #ballpointpen

#sciart #wildlifeart #birdart 🪶 🐡

Bright red flowers adorn four scarlet hedgehog X fishhook cacti hybrids. A male Broad-tailed hummingbird perches atop one bloom, and a female flies towards one. A female, male, and three Gambel quail chicks trot around the base of the cacti. All is painted on a birch wood panel; the grain of the wood is visible in the background.

The artist stands holding the 4-ft tall wood panel with birds and cacti painted on it. A large saguaro cacti stands tall behind them, and a cholla cacti bursts about behind them as well. The cloud is overcast.

Detail image zoomed in of the painting showing the bright red cacti flowers and numerous needles, the head of the mail Gamble's quail, and both of the Broad-tailed hummingbirds (one perched, one flying).

Recent commission of Broad-tailed hummingbirds and Gambel's quail gathering round scarlet hedgehog X fishhook cacti hybrids in celebration of the Sonoran Desert. Acrylic on birch, 36x48 inches.

#sonorandesert #hummingbirdart #quails #cacti #acrylicpainting #paintingcommission

Song: The Fox (Yup Yup Yup) by Twain.

New mural complete in Arvada, CO, created by many hands! It has been a longtime dream to host nature walks, incorporate the community’s observations into the design, and invite volunteers to kick off the mural for community paint days.
#publicart #mural #natureart #commission #colorado #painting 🪶

Nigh Flight: Blackpoll Warblers
Platinum of ink and charcoal
12 x 12 inches

#platinumprint #migratorybirds #blackpoll #alternativeprocess #birdart 🪶

Thank you!!

Details of “Good Warm Light”
💚
#acrylicpainting #pitcherplant #steelhead #pupfish #mushrooms #sciart #fishart 🪶

“Good Warm Light”

Named after Frida Kahlo’s description of the color green 💚

18 x 24 inches
Acrylic on birch

#acrylicpainting #hummingbird #birdart #snakeart #sciart #plantart #ferns #frog #serpentine #moths 🪶

Preview of a new painting “Good Warm Light” named after Frida Kahlo’s description of the color green from her person writings in 1957. 18x24 acrylic on birch
#green #hummingbird #lunamoth #ferns #acrylic #painting #natureart

Chambered nautilus, white pens and acrylic on board. 4 ft x 3 ft.

#nautilus #oceanart #marinelife #sciart #scientificillustration #cephalopod #marineart

Aww thank you so much!!

A giant Pacific octopus, white pens and acrylic on board. 4 ft x 3 ft. Inspired by 18th century Lord Bodner’s copper plate engraving. #sciart #marineart #octopus #oceanart #marinelife #scienceart #cephalopod

Will collect both the audio book and hard copy!!

Full view of the mural. Three magpies and a mule deer.

Image of me painting the mule deer.

Close up of a magpie wing.

Magpies and mule deer mural for Fiddler’s Green Amphitheater and the Museum of Outdoor Arts in Greenwood Village, CO!
Acrylic and latex, 15 x 8ft. 🪶

#birdart #deer #mural #publicart #handpainted #colorado #wildlife #magpie #muralartist #acrylic #sciart #conservation

A full spread depicting garlic and its features in both ink and watercolor.

The same full spread of garlic and its features in ink and watercolor, but labeled with hand-written notes.

One of three spreads for Mad! Agriculture Journal issue 12, recently published. Watercolor and ink.

#botanicalillustration #sciart #garlic #botany #plants #scientificillustration #agriculture

Oval framing of Pacific sardines.

Close up of Pacific sardines, some reflecting the sunlight.

Platinum-palladium of Pacific sardines at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in CA.

#sardines #marinelife #platinum #printmaking #fishart #alternativeprocess

A platinum-palladium artwork of Meca’Ayo and a screech owl for today’s #SuperbOwl 🪶

Part of an ongoing series of portraits/interviews of women+nonbinary individuals.

30x22 in, platinum, graphite, watercolor on paper

#platinumpalladium #alternativeprinting #portrait #birdart #owl

🌞🌻💛

❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

I am wearing a grey jumpsuit and am standing on my tiptoes to paint the hummingbird’s gorget (colorful throat feathers).

A full view of the mural and the conference room tables.

This mural was such a joy to create for Art Gym Denver’s conference room last spring. It features four local hummingbird species darting across a wall of paint strokes. 22 x 9 ft, latex house paint and acrylic.

#birds #mural #hummingbirds #sciart #birdart #painting