The Artist

My name is Lara Whatley, and I’m the artist behind Whatley’s Wildlife. I’ve been creating for as long as I can remember. Art supplies were never far from reach growing up, thanks to my mother, the art teacher. We lived alongside a woods, and my younger days were filled with moss and fanciful stories, a healthy dose of fairytales read to us in the evening.

I went to university for Commerce, trading fireflies for finance and adventure for accounting. I learned a lot about being an entrepreneur, and how much I truly actually despise accounting. The bright bit in my degree was going down to New Zealand for exchange and studying creative writing and 3D modeling and animation there, as well as visiting and taking a few courses at Weta Workshop. A dream come true.

After I graduated in 2020, I decided instead of pursuing a desk job in a world where everyone was working from home anyways, I would take the leap into what I felt was my calling.

The rest is history. I create what inspires me, and what I hope will go on to inspire others. I’m forever learning, discovering new mediums, new passions, and it allows me to create with freedom. The world of art is very exciting, Like an explorer of old, discovering excitement at every turn. I don’t consider myself “there” yet. I’m still learning. I’m so thankful you’re here with me on this journey.

Some milestones in my art journey so far include being published in a few journals and papers including Polymer Weekly and The Toronto Star. Having my photos go viral on social media “Pippin the Penguin”, and “The Leaf Bat”, having my first shop update to sell out within minutes, reaching my first million views on a reel about my mushroom bookmarks, having my first work cast in bronze, and signing a book deal with Eye of Newt press. My life is not just my successes; a mountain of trial and error and other experiments lie behind them, but that’s art, I suppose!