Linda Thomas is a fine artist, muralist and illustrator. Her award-winning works include murals, portraits, landscape, wildlife paintings and illustrations, represented in museums, nature centers, galleries and private collections. One of Linda’s special interests is to depict flora and fauna within the context of their natural environments. Linda’s talent is to express the vitality and soul of her subject, to enable viewers to feel the atmosphere of the moment, and to capture the timeless essence of an inspiring scene.

 

Interpretive art and illustration

A Washington University School of Fine Arts graduate (St. Louis, MO; BFA in illustration), Linda Thomas has been active as an artist and illustrator in the fields of interpretive art, advertising and publishing. Her illustrations have appeared on book jackets, album covers, magazines and other publications for clients such as Avis, Xerox, and Good Housekeeping, among others. Her illustrations have appeared on book covers for Penguin Books and Simon and Schuster’s Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins and Agatha Christie series. Her illustrations were printed on scarves, ties, and dresses for fashion designer Nicole Miller, including the “Dalmatians” design, one of Miller’s most popular and successful prints.

Her interpretive art includes commissions for environmental centers, conservation and government organizations. Representative projects include: Chickasaw Nat. Recreation Area, OK (2017); Sam’s Point Conservation Center, NY exhibits (2005-2016); Teatown Reservation and Hudson Riverwalk Center, NY (2014, 2016); Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge, FL (2014); Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, AR (2014); Seneca Meadows Environmental Center, NY (2012-14); Quassaick Creek Preserve, NY (2002; 2009); U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Hiram Chittenden Locks, WA (2007); The Nature Conservancy, NY (2005; 2008); Mt. Agamenticus Nature Center, ME (2009); Havasu National Wildlife Refuge, AZ (2010); Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park, AR (2011)—recipient of the NAI Best Interior Exhibit  Media Award for 2012; Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, TX (2011) and the CT Beardsley Park Zoo (2007).

 

Murals

Selected projects include: A 16x40 foot mural for the Sam’s Point Preserve Conservation Center, Cragsmoor, NY commissioned by the Nature Conservancy depicts over 90 species of flora and fauna within the context of the Preserve’s environmental communities. The project received a 2005 Honor Award from the Westchester County AIA. Other natural history mural projects include The Nature Conservancy’s Shelter Island, NY Mashomack Preserve visitor center, Pond Creek NWR and Overflow NWR in AR (2015-16). Residential commissions have been included in many house tours and were featured in television interviews on New England Cablevision Channel 12 in 1996. Her murals are widely published, including Better Homes & Gardens (May 2001), Walls, Windows and Floors, special issues of Woman’s Day, and the cover and major feature in Colonial Homes magazine (May 1998).

 

Fine art

Linda Thomas receives many private commissions for portraits, landscape and wildlife paintings. Her works have appeared in prestigious juried exhibitions, including the American Watercolor Society International Exhibition, NYC (2015); Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors (Morrison Family Award, 2015); New England Watercolor Society N. American Open, MA (2014); SCAN recipient of Richard Ochs Memorial Award 2014 and Best in Show 2016, Newtown, CT; “Art of the Animal Kingdom,” “Wildscapes,” and “Laumeister Competition,” Bennington Center for the Arts, VT (2013, 2017); “Focus on Nature,” New York State Museum (2006-2016) 2017 Jury Award, 14th International Art-Science Competition-Exhibition, NY Hall of Science;  “Art of the Northeast USA,” Silvermine Galleries, New Canaan, CT; The Greene Gallery, Guilford, CT; University of Hartford and Highstead Arboretum, Redding, CT. Her watercolors of African wildlife have been featured in the show “Women Paint Their World” at Red Fox Wildlife Gallery, Wilton, CT and in Wildlife Art, Nov./Dec. 2003. Linda’s one person show “Art on the Wild Side,” featuring murals and interpretive art was on display September-December 2009 at the Yale Environmental Science Center, New Haven, CT. A presentation about the show was held for the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies in conjunction with the show’s opening. Other speaking engagements include the O.C. Marsh Fellows Program at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven, CT and the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, NY.

 

Memberships

Guild of Natural Science Illustrators (GNSI)

New England Watercolor Society (NEWS)

Society of Creative Arts of Newtown (SCAN)

American Watercolor Society (AWS)

National Watercolor Society (NWS)