Meet Laura Boatman: The Artist Behind Art by Boaty

Hi! I'm Laura Boatman, the artist behind Art by Boaty. Here's a little bit about me, my journey with art, my love of animals and the inspiration behind my colourful paintings 👩‍🎨

My journey with art

I'm a UK-born, Australian artist based in Sydney and the founder of Art by Boaty. I create bold, colourful acrylic paintings inspired by animals, Australian wildlife and beloved pets.

My artwork is all about colour, personality, joy and good vibes. I want my paintings to make people smile and bring a little bit of energy and happiness into their homes.

But my relationship with art started long before Art by Boaty existed.

Where my love of art began

I've been surrounded by art for as long as I can remember.

My grandmother and aunt were both artists, and I spent countless hours of my childhood immersed in creativity with them. My grandmother taught me how to paint and draw when I was very young, so making art has always felt like a natural part of who I am.

I loved art at school too — it was always my favourite subject. I also spent lots of time visiting art galleries, and I think being surrounded by creativity from such a young age really shaped me.

I never really stopped loving art. Life just got busier.

How it all began

For 16 years, I worked in the corporate world in digital marketing, eventually becoming a Head of Digital. I enjoyed my career, but my life was busy and I rarely had the time to paint.

Then Covid happened in 2020.

One of the unexpected silver linings was that the world suddenly gave so many of us hours back in the day. For the first time in years, I had time to reconnect with hobbies and things I loved doing simply for the sake of doing them.

I started painting again.

There wasn't a big business plan behind it. I just wanted to create.

But that little spark planted the seed for Art by Boaty, and the rest is history.

What started as something I did in my spare time eventually grew into my own business. Now I spend a huge amount of my time immersed in the art world, which is something I'm incredibly grateful for.

Why I paint animals

I've always felt a really strong connection to animals.

I love their beauty, their personalities, their individuality and the things they represent. I'm also fascinated by animal symbolism and often feel like animals appear in my life at exactly the right moment, almost as little signs or messages when I need them.

My own animals are a huge part of my life too. I have a cat called Cosmo and a dog called Teddy, and they're my soulmates 🐶😺

So perhaps it's not surprising that animals naturally became such a big part of my art.

I love capturing the character and energy of an animal and bringing that into a painting.

Australian wildlife is my inspiration

Since moving to Australia, Australian wildlife has become a huge source of inspiration for me.

I moved to Australia from London in 2016, by myself, having never actually been here before. I was bored of London and tired of the hamster-wheel lifestyle, so I decided to move to the other side of the world for a bit of respite.

Nearly ten years later, I'm still here!

One of the things I love about Australia is how close you are to nature and wildlife. I often wake up to cockatoos and kookaburras outside my window, and I find myself constantly inspired by the animals and birds around me.

I especially love painting Australian birds. There's something about their colours, personalities and character that translates beautifully into my style.

My colourful, bold style

Bold, colourful and vibrant.

I want my paintings to radiate joy, fun and good vibes.

I'm not trying to create artwork that disappears into the background. I want it to have personality. I want you to walk into a room, see a painting and instantly feel something.

I like to think of my artwork as a dopamine hit for the home.

Colour plays a huge role in that. I love experimenting with vibrant colours and creating artwork that feels energetic, playful and alive.

My approach to pet portraits

I know I'm probably going to get some hate for saying this!

I love photography, and I think photographs are incredible at capturing an animal exactly as they are. But that's also why I don't want my paintings to simply recreate a photograph.

For me, painting can create a feeling and a vibe that photography can't.

I use photographs as the starting point, but I want to create something different from realism. I'm much more interested in capturing the personality, energy, colours and feeling of the animal.

So while I create custom pet portraits, I bring my own bold and colourful style to them rather than creating a completely realistic reproduction.

At the moment I mainly paint dogs and cats, although I'd absolutely love to paint a horse one day. That's definitely on my list!

Creating meaningful pet portraits

A custom pet portrait is a personalised artwork created from photographs of a much-loved animal.

One of my favourite things about creating custom pet portraits and animal art commissions is knowing that I'm making something genuinely meaningful for someone.

Pets are such an important part of our lives, and there's something really special about turning that connection into a piece of artwork that you can keep forever.

I don't want to simply paint a copy of someone's favourite photograph. I want to create a unique piece of art that captures the animal's personality and the feeling they bring into your life.

What inspires my artwork

Inspiration can come from almost anywhere.

Obviously, animals and nature are a huge source of inspiration for me, but sometimes it's simply a colour, a feeling, something I've seen, or an idea that suddenly pops into my head.

I don't have a very structured creative routine either.

My days are quite flowy, and I tend to paint when I feel the urge to paint. If I'm yearning to create, I'll paint. And that feeling comes pretty often!

I often paint outside while listening to podcasts or music, which is one of my favourite ways to spend time.

My painting process

Painting is my meditation.

When I'm painting, everything else seems to disappear. It's incredibly soothing and I can completely lose track of time.

I also find the process quite intuitive. I don't always feel like I'm consciously thinking about every decision I'm making. Painting feels almost channelled to me — something just comes through, and my hands move the paintbrush.

I don't always know exactly where a painting is going to end up when I start it.

I just begin, follow the feeling and see what happens.

What art means to me

For me, art is joy.

It's expression. It's pure soul. It's consciousness expressed.

Painting gives me a way to express something that doesn't necessarily need words.

It's also one of the few things I can do where I completely lose track of time. I'm not thinking about what I should be doing next or what's happening around me. I'm just completely immersed in the moment.

And I think that's part of why I want my artwork to make other people feel good too.

If something I've created can make someone smile when they walk past it every day, that's pretty special to me.

Why Art by Boaty?

Art by Boaty is my colourful little corner of the art world.

I create original acrylic paintings, art prints, custom pet portraits and custom animal art commissions, with animals and Australian wildlife being a huge source of inspiration.

My work is bold, colourful, playful and designed to bring personality and joy into your home.

Whether it's a colourful kookaburra, a painting of a beloved dog or cat, or an original animal artwork, I want every piece to make you feel something.

Most importantly, I want it to make you feel good.

Because life is serious enough.

Your art doesn't have to be. 🎨