Bringing nature closer to home

AN UPSURGE of interest in the outdoors is creating new opportunities for artists and authors of guidebooks on the Irish countryside.

Scarcely a week passes without the mounting of yet another art exhibition with nature as its subject, or a publication on how to tackle some of the great Irish walks.

It seems more people like to bring the natural world indoors and what better way than by hanging paintings with pastoral settings, or featuring birds and other animals.