Liz Park, Caribou Scratch, 2024, Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 x 1.5 in

Liz Park creates unique portraits of the natural world, seeking to make something unfamiliar from familiar subjects of wildlife and landscape. Her work integrates realistic detail with abstract elements to form strong, balanced compositions, often placing animals in suspended or unexpected environments rather than their natural settings.

Drawing is central to her practice. After rendering her subject as faithfully as possible, Park allows the work to shift into a more intuitive phase, introducing shapes, lines, and expressive marks to achieve visual balance and energy. She often works from personal reference photographs, preferring to depict animals she has encountered directly, as these experiences inform a deeper sense of character and narrative within each piece.

Her process on canvas involves layered acrylic washes, gravity, and controlled chance through tools like spray bottles, allowing texture and underpainting to remain visible as part of the composition. On wood panels, she responds to sanding, staining, and varnishing, incorporating natural grain as an active visual element. Park's work emphasizes collaboration with material and process, allowing nature-whether animal, surface, or medium-to remain visibly present.