Uphill Battle by Beverly Smith. All Rights Reserved. As a wildlife artist, I strive to recreate the beauty of our world in a medium that can be viewed and cherished in a more intimate setting. By using oil paints in the old Flemish Masters' techniques of underpainting, dead layering and glazing, I try to capture unique characteristics of the natural world that come to life in a static setting. Captured in a moment of repose or flight, the subjects of my paintings are caught in a brief space of time, doing what comes naturally in the natural world.