Amy Shawley Paquette
Amy Shawley Paquette is a Virginia-based painter inspired by the natural world. Each one of her paintings begins with a walk in nature, taking in the environmental elements and collecting memories and experiences to apply to her work. Birds are her primary subject matter and she loves pairing them with botanical, landscape, and texture elements. She works from her own photos to create colorfully detailed and richly layered paintings. Amy most frequently paints in watercolor but her favorite medium is oil paint, especially when layered over textured acrylic surfaces.
Birds became Amy’s focus after moving to Virginia in 2014, they were a constant companion right out the window or on walks, so she started researching species and documenting sightings with photographs and sketches. She has since become an avid birder, not only in her region of central VA but all across the US. Building collections of paintings around different families or groups of birds is one of her favorite things, and more birds are getting added to her catalog each year.
Amy's formal education is a BA in Art History (’03), but after her time at Boston University she ended up working closely with art materials for two decades - first in art supplies stores, then as an educator for Golden Artist Colors. From 2008-2022 she taught, lectured, and demonstrated how to use artist’s paints across southern California and the DMV area. This experience connected her with area artists, and for the last two years she ran Waxwing Art Works, a small art gallery connected to her Cville art studio that supported local and regional artists and makers. Amy moved studios this Summer to shift more energy back to her growing wholesale business and painting process.
As of late August 2026, Amy has closed the brick and mortar gallery location. The spirit of the gallery will live on through pop-up shows, so make sure you're following her on Instagram to learn more!
For more information, please visit: www.amyshawleypaquette.com or find her on Instagram at @amyshawley.