This painting was inspired by a recent trip to New Zealand, I couldn't resist painting one of these magnificent native birds with it's wonderful song. It was bucketing down with thick grey skies for most of our trip, hence the rather grey moody wash I've used in the background. The plumage on this Tui features all my favourite green to blue hues which work perfectly with the deep reds of the flax flowers. My husband is a Kiwi, for the record – he approves of this piece.