Warroad Artist Holly Ellsworth-Crowther spoke about winning 1st place in the Annual NW Art Exhibit in Warroad for her mixed media painting “Forest’s Queen.” She approached creating this piece wanting to just work on something that she fully enjoyed. She’s always loved nature and folklore and loves to incorporate a lot of elements of the forest into her work. The piece is magical and whimsical and includes leaves and pinecones to give 3D and textural elements. The dress in the painting is made out of leaves. The forest queen embodies the spirit of nature and the feeling of being in the forest.

Holly loves creating watercolor illustrations (fantasy-esque), oil paintings (portrait heavy), and recently fiber arts (needle felting with forest found materials) utilizing a full array of different elements. Moving here from Utah, she came from a creative and supportive family and it’s been a core part of her identity. She’ll be teaching workshops in the near future and has an Etsy shop called MossyFernStudio. Listen to hear more!