Kelly Leahy Radding honors the natural world she loves through her art. She grew up on the edge of a state forest in rural Connecticut and for over 30 years has lived on a farm in the woods, at the end of a dirt road in Columbia, Connecticut. She finds all aspects of nature compelling subjects for her paintings, including animals, birds, plants, butterflies, and the often overlooked. She believes that the minute details of nature are an integral and necessary part of the whole.

Kelly is a trained graphic designer and illustrator, turning to full-time painting after receiving her Certificate of Botanical Art & Illustration at the New York Botanical Garden in 2002. She is a sought-after guest instructor at botanical art programs, traveling to teach workshops in both the US and abroad, including the New York Botanical Garden, Ketchum, Idaho, and Florence, Italy.

Radding is a signature member of the Society of Animal Artists, currently serving on the board as vice president. She is a board member of the Monument Arts & Cultural Center in Bennington, VT. She also maintains memberships in the American Society of Botanical Artists, the New England Society of Botanical Artists, the Lyme Art Association, Lyme, CT, and the National Tropical Botanic Garden Florilegium Society in Kauai, HI. She is a cofounder and instructor at the Contemporary Naturalism Guild of Art and Academy.