Esther Horton is a Veterinarian and Wildlife Artist.

Esther considers herself fortunate to grow up with both her parents and both grandfathers sharing their passion for art and painting. She has been drawing for most of her life.

Esther finds painting great relaxation therapy at the end of a busy workday. It combines her love of art, photography, natural history and bird watching. She has been a keen birdwatcher since she was around eight years old, with her earliest memories of watching Long-eared Owls nesting in The Netherlands. Owls are still her favourite painting subjects.

Esther’s preferred media are Watercolour, Scratchboard and Clayboard. She loves the softness and playfulness of Watercolour, especially when working with granulating watercolour paints. No other media is so alive and unpredictable at times. The precision and detail of Scratchboard and Clayboard is something she loves also and it suits some of her subjects better than Watercolour.

Her work has been selected as a Finalist for the prestigious Holmes Art Prize for Excellence in Realistic Australian Bird Art in 2016, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. (Six  out of the seven times she has entered)  In 2022 she also won an Award of Excellence at the Holmes Art Prize.

Esther has exhibited her work at many venues and she exhibits regularly with the Queensland Wildlife Artists Society Inc. (QWASI) in particular. She has won various awards over the years at the QWASI exhibitions including Best Australian wildlife category, People’s choice awards, Awards of Excellence, Sponsor’s choice awards and Highly commended awards.

Esther has been part of the Committee for the Qld Wildlife Artists Society since 2017 and was elected as its President in 2022.

Esther is on the committee and selection panel for the WildHeART Student Art Prize since its inception in 2022. Esther judged the Junior Holmes Art prize for realistic Australian bird Art in 2020. She also judged The Brisbane Rotary Art Spectacular for the Scratchboard Section in 2019 which had entries by many prominent Scratchboard artists from all over Australia. Together with the other medium judges she selected the overall winners for the exhibitions spanning three large Westfield shopping centres in SE Qld.

Esther lives and works near Maleny in the Sunshine Coast hinterland on an acreage rainforest property with a dedicated art studio. Her property has abundant wildlife including resident platypus, an incredible variety of bird species and stunning scenery for endless inspiration.