I felt inspired by the blue tits living in the gardens to do a little 4×4 inch oil painting. They’re really busy starting their families and they regularly come to my window feeder for a snack, so I get a close look at them. Such pretty little birds. I love their bandit style eye masks and their cheeky, confident attitude.
A new bird painting. This time it’s a robin. I watch these guys breeding every spring in the gardens around here. They come quite close and even sit on the railings just outside the house, waiting for me to weed the plants on the doorstep so they can get at the insects in the disturbed earth. This is one of last years youngsters.
Buy it here or contact me direct if you’d like him.
This is a quick little oil painting of a Great Tit on a branch. It’s a sight I see a lot, all I have to do is look out of my window and there they are, beautiful little birds, singing in the trees and going about their feathery business.
Great Tit Here is today’s singer. I just hope the weather warms up for him very soon. At least there was some warm sun for a couple of hours.
Starlings are such gorgeous birds, those iridescent feathers shining in the sun! I watched a small flock of starlings at Camden Lock in the summer, picking up scraps that the tourists by the canal. It’s a lovely place to be on a hot sunny day for both humans and birds.
This starling was a juvenile who seemed to be part way between his brown baby plumage and his fabulous adult coat. He was a glorious mix of colour.
We used to think of them as pests here in London, years ago. There were so many starlings and house sparrows in those days, yelling nosily in the trees with big flocks of starlings flying overhead in the evenings, heading for their beds. We thought they’d always be there. But we were wrong. We lost our sparrows and starlings and the skies were silent for many years. It’s true, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.
Recently the starlings have started to come back to the centre of the city and we’ve even see a small flock living not too far from the house. They’re back and it’s wonderful to see them again. Maybe the house sparrows will be back one day too.
The goldfinches have been around all morning, feeding in the trees and singing from the rooftops. Such a pretty song and such pretty birds too. Makes it feel like spring. :-) So here’s a little sketch of one of my visitors….
A pair of happy King Penguins with their long shadows stretching out over the ice. There’s something joyful about penguins! I love the poses of these two, it makes you wonder what the little one is saying to the big one. :-)
There are penguin prints of Walk This Way in the shop. Buy them here.
The Great Tits and Blue Tits have been really busy feeding the kids. They quite often do it on the window ledge right in front of the feeder, so I get a great view. So do the cats! :-) But with the mirror film on the glass the birds can’t see the cats and are undisturbed.
Another blue tit sketch. This one is in the tree outside my window having a snack. I’m not sure if he’s eating the seeds of the sycamore that he’s hanging on to, or if he’s picking insects off the seeds. But I had a pretty good view as he worked his way from one clump of hanging seeds to the next.
I always think blue tits look like tiny, feathered pirates with that dark band around their eyes. :-)
Here’s a little sketch of a blue tit on the wall outside my window.
I’ve been watching the blue tits and the great tits coming to feed on my window feeder. They are so entertaining! The blue tits are cheeky balls of yellow feathers, new fledglings, full of energy, squabbling over the nuts and seeds. They perch on the wall just outside the window and look carefully around for danger. They can’t see in because I’ve put up mirrored film. Just as well as there’s usually and excited cat on the other side! Then up onto the nuts for a good feed. They come so often I’m getting to know the differences between each bird. This one seems cheekier than the others and he’s much rounder too.
Here’s a little bird painting. I watched the jackdaws in the park working the picnic area like real pros! they are such interesting birds, quick and clever. So for one of my daily paintings I decided to try and capture a jackdaw in paint. Here he is.
