Wanda by Cassie Holmes
This piece is part of my recent Feathery February collection. For this collection I painted Australian birds from the top 10 Australian birds of 2023. The Willie Wagtail came in at number five.
The Willie Wagtail is found throughout the mainland of Australia and is known for its cute little dance it does, of sitting there wagging its tail back and forth.
These Willie Wagtail pieces have a lovely light yellow background, to go with the dark purples I used in the bodies. Unfortunately the camera doesn’t show the lovely pale yellow particularly well.
When my two boys were in primary school (many, many years ago now lol) and I would pick them up from school, for some reason I created three characters that I would portray on the way home. They each had a name, distinct personalities, voices, likes, etc.
When the boys got in the car they never knew which character I was going to be. One of the characters was just a laid back guy who absolutely adored Willie Wagtails and would talk about them non-stop, particularly if we saw one on the way home. Why did I do this and create these characters, no idea, 😂 just for a laugh and a bit of fun on the way home. And definitely no idea where the three characters came from. It was always a bit of fun on the way home though. This is why Willie Wagtails have a special place in my heart, they remind me of my boys when they were kids and the fun we have. 💙💚
I painted a pair of each bird because I like that they have a friend. I love the textured feathers of these little cuties. I use thick oil paint and palette knives to create the texture, including adding it in the background of my pieces.
This piece is on a 20cm x 20cm cradled wood panel, which is 3.8cm wide, allowing you to stand it up on a shelf. It also comes with wire ready to hang. It is unframed but the sides are painted in a light grey so you can have more than one from the set if you like and they will all match. This piece will look lovely hanging on a wall, particularly with its partner, or standing on a shelf or bench.