In his book "Nature Cure" Richard Mabey has this to say about writing in general and nature writing in particular "...I believe that language and imagination, far from alienating us from nature, are our most powerful and natural tools for re-engaging with it... Culture isn't the opposite or contrary of nature. It's the interface between us and the non-human world, our species' semi-permeable membrane."

I think the same can be said for painting.   

Stephen Taylor