The Red-Knecked Stint is one of the smaller migratory birds that breeds in the Arctic of eastern Eurasia and is found in Alaska. They make the migratory journey south as far as Tasmania and New Zealand for the summer months. An amazing journey twice a year for these little birds.
It is depicted here in it's Australian summer plumage and as such does not show the red-brown breeding plumage.
My current work seeks to accurately portray ornithological subjects using vintage book pages as both the inspiration and substrate onto which the birds are depicted. While the birds are depicted in a realistic manner the work retains a painterly quality with a combination of fine detail and evident brushwork.
The use of vintage book pages as the substrate brings an underlying story to the piece through the history of the books themselves which is often evident in the imperfect nature of the paper with blemishes, marks and creases.
My technique involves painting in thin layers building up the form with layered feather details. At times some of the text may show through the paint in an almost shadowy way that binds the bird to the page but also contributes to the underlying feather details.
While the birds in some works can have an easily identifiable, even a direct link to the page content (as an example depicting a bird using the identification page from a field guide) others can have more discrete and even an intangible relationship to the page contents.
The works are created in acrylic.
