--- title: "Holly Parson’s “Nestled in a Cliffside Colony” completes ACAP’s art poster series for World Albatross Day 2025" --- # Holly Parson’s “Nestled in a Cliffside Colony” completes ACAP’s art poster series for World Albatross Day 2025 *![WAD2025 Indian Yellow nosed Albatross Holly Parsons](https://www.acap.aq/images/WAD/WAD2025_Indian_Yellow-nosed_Albatross_Holly_Parsons.jpg) “Nestled in a Cliffside Colony” by pointillist artist Holly Parsons* As part of its activities to mark World Albatross Day ([WAD2025](https://www.acap.aq/world-albatross-day/wad2025-effects-of-disease)) and its theme of “Effects of Disease” on 19 June this year, ACAP once more collaborated with the international collective Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature ([ABUN](https://abun4nature.org/)) to produce [40 artworks](https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1066982812121688&type=3) depicting the two albatross species chosen to be featured.  They are the [Endangered](https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/amsterdam-albatross-diomedea-amsterdamensis) Amsterdam Albatross *Diomedea amsterdamensis*, endemic to France’s Amsterdam Island, and the southern Indian Ocean’s [Endangered](https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/indian-yellow-nosed-albatross-thalassarche-carteri) Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross *Thalassarche carteri. *From the collection, eight paintings were chosen to illustrate art posters.  Seven posters were released during [‘WADWEEK](https://www.acap.aq/search?q=%E2%80%98WADWEEK%27+2025&Search=&w1=before&d1=&w2=before&d2=)’ over 17-19 June.  The eighth and last in the series is released here today. Holly Parsons’ painting “Nestled in a Cliffside Colony” is of an Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross brooding its downy chick.  It follows a photograph taken by the French marine ornithologist Karine Delord at the falaises d’Entrecasteaux breeding colony on Amsterdam Island.  Holly has used the [pointillism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillism) technique where small, distinct dots of colour are applied in patterns to form an image, first used by the French neo-impressionist artists [Georges Seurat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Seurat) and [Paul Signac](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Signac) in 1886. ![Holly Parsons on Flock 2025](https://www.acap.aq/images/WAD/Holly_Parsons_on_Flock_2025.jpg) *Holly Parsons photographing seabirds to help inspire her art on the [Flock to Marion](https://www.birdlife.org.za/flock-to-marion-again-2025/) voyage in January 2025* Holly, who lives in Boulder, Colorado, USA, writes to *ACAP Latest News* about herself and her artwork: “I learned to paint using the pointillism style because of jittery hands following a brain injury.  And now I still love all the dots!  I also used some brush strokes for the lush grasses and nest.  Amsterdam Island was on fire when I started this painting.  I was inspired to immortalize the landscape, and I hoped that the albatrosses would be spared. And they were!  This cliffside colony [did not burn](https://www.acap.aq/latest-news/the-wildfire-on-amsterdam-island-is-out-and-its-endangered-albatrosses-have-survived?highlight=WyJhbXN0ZXJkYW0iLCJhbXN0ZXJkYW0ncyIsImZpcmUiLCJmaXJlcyIsImZpcmluZyIsImZpcmVkIl0=) and all the chicks were saved.”  She adds that she used acrylics on canvas board, and that her painting measures 16 x 20 inches (40.5 x 51 cm). *![Holly Parsons Short tailed Albatrosses George and Geraldine after Jonathon Plissner](https://www.acap.aq/images/WAD2024/Holly_Parsons_Short-tailed_Albatrosses_George_and_Geraldine_after_Jonathon_Plissner.jpg) Short-tailed Albatrosses George and Geraldine by Holly Parsons for ACAP’s [World Albatross Day](https://www.acap.aq/world-albatross-day/wad2024-marine-protected-areas) on 19 June 2024, after a photograph by Jonathon Plissner.  Geraldine is the darker bird in front on the nest.  Acrylics on canvas board* Holly Parsons, who manages the Facebook group Albatross Lovers, has previously painted for ACAP.  Last year she produced two artworks for WAD2024, [one of which](https://www.acap.aq/latest-news/keeping-it-in-the-family-george-and-geraldines-latest-chick-gets-its-bands-while-older-sibling-short-tailed-albatrosses-dance-together-on-midway-atoll?highlight=WyJob2xseSIsMjAyNCwiMjAyNCdzIl0=), of George and Geraldine, the well-known pair of [Vulnerable](https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/short-tailed-albatross-phoebastria-albatrus) Short-tailed Albatrosses *Phoebastria albatrus*, that breeds on Midway Atoll in the North Pacific, also uses the pointillism technique. All eight WAD2025 art posters are available for downloading and for personal and educational display from [here](https://www.acap.aq/world-albatross-day/wad2025-effects-of-disease/world-albatross-day-2025-art-posters).  They should not be used for commercial gain. With thanks to Karine Delord for the use of her photograph and Holly Parsons for her painting. *John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 23 June 2025*