Meet the wildlife artist | Bumble-Bees Art and Crafts

Artist and lover of wildlife

Wildlife and Conservation Artist

Bumble-Bees Art and Crafts sells original artwork, prints, embroideries and other merchandise by wildlife artist, Betty Busby, of 'Auntie Betty Illustration'.

I am fascinated by New Zealand's unique wildlife and loves the beautiful, rich colours of native creatures and plants.

I am passionate about creating wildlife artwork of endangered and rare species from around the world, especially lesser-known species which need more publicity.

New artworks are constantly being created for Bumble-Bees Art and Crafts, but I am also available for wildlife art commissions. I specialise in watercolour, coloured pencil and embroidered portraits. You can contact me here: Contact

I tutor people with learning disabilities, and also teach adults and children cognitive drawing, watercolour painting and embroidery classes. I aim to write a monthly blog about my illustration journey.

I am proud member of Arts Canterbury and the New Zealand art collaboration, doodlewear. My ethically-manufactured and 100% natural, biodegradable and sustainable cotton clothing range is produced in collaboration with doodlewear.

I also sells some of my work on print-on-demand platforms:
Redbubble
Zazzle
Society6

I share work-in-progress photos and stories on Facebook and Instagram.

Betty's Inspiration

'Nature is fascinating, especially rare and endangered plants and animals.

As a child, my dream pet was a komodo dragon - partly because I love reptiles and thought that dragons had smiley faces. Besides, I could picture the faces of the tough kids at school when they saw the pet I had in tow!

Growing up in southern Africa (surrounded by beautiful plants, magnificent scenery and unusual creatures like Aardvark and weaver birds) created a strong desire to draw and paint the natural world around me. This desire has grown even stronger during my decades in New Zealand, as the native wildlife here is so unique and rare.

Gerald Durrell's books inspired a passion to increase awareness of the plight of endangered species around the world. I hope to paint as many endangered species of plants and animals as I can, so I photograph as much as I can locally. I am grateful to collaborate with generous, talented photographers from around the world, including New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and Germany, who provide good quality source material on which I base my paintings.'

Children's Quirky Creatures Illustrations

'Children's illustration has given me the opportunity to broaden my artwork horizons, by creating quirky, humorous and action-filled illustrations of animals, birds and insects.'

Quirky Creatures Illustrations