$4,795.00
Frances’s Inspiration: “The undeniably handsome Eastern Spinebill has been long on my list of “must paint” birds. I came across a family of noisy, squabbling (but endlessly entertaining) spinebills at the Botanic Gardens in Canberra. Tiny, pugnacious and full of confidence, spinebills are incredibly fast and it was a game of patience waiting for one of them to land on this stunning flowering grevillea long enough to photograph him in a split second with the light “just so”.
The marvellous rugged beauty of the flowering grevillea is more than just the backdrop to this painting. Indeed, it is a plant that jostles with the bird for your attention! I most commonly paint in a rectangular format, but somehow, after many sketches and accompanying frustrations, this painting almost seemed to guide me towards the square. Eastern Spinebills are part of the Honeyeater family (Meliphagidae), a group that is the largest of the Australian passerines with 76 species. They are one of only two members in the same genus, the other being the Western Spinebill. They are small, distinctive and very active. The males are more brightly coloured with a black crown. Females are duller overall with a grey crown. There are four separate subspecies.”
Original artwork by Frances McMahon
In stock
