Pacific Black Duck, Avian Faces Series and Handmade Watercolour Paints.

Pacific Black Duck Anas superciliosa, watercolour on paper, 27.5 x 35 cm,  © Matteo Grilli 2015

Here is the full series of original bird portraits from the Avian Faces Series 2012, three birds, the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, the Boobook Owl and the Bush-stone Curlew for a total of twelve small watercolour portraits, all artworks are now available.

And this is my handmade full watercolour range, this is a beautiful, versatile and minimal watercolour palette with five earth colours out of eight.

A Baby Bush-stone Curlew

Baby Bush-stone Curlew, watercolour on paper, 28x28 cm, 2013, © Matteo Grilli 2013

I came across a family of Bush-stone Curlews at the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens, the parents were protective but not aggressive, they were keeping their 18 cm chick at a safe distance from people.

Pigments used: top to bottom, Prussian Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Perylene Maroon, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber

See older posts about the Bush-stone Curlew here.

Buy greeting cards of this fascinating Australian bird here.

Avian Faces - Bush-stone Curlews

With this painting I wanted to focus on the variety of different expressions that I could notice in the Bush-stone Curlew, Burhinus grallarius. The bottom right bird looks 'sad' but I wouldn't say the bird was actually sad, the way they are able to move their feathers, especially around their eyes and beak, allows them to appear different according to their mood or need to communicate with other birds. I noticed this is even truer for nocturnal birds, probably due to the bigger size of their eyes. It is amazing and surprising how quickly and suddenly birds can change their appearance.

Detail

Meeting the Bush Stone-curlew

I saw three Stone Bush-curlews at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens. They are related to waders but they are actually terrestrial and found on any habitat with ground litter, from rain forests to open woodland, their face expression are very interesting and ever changing. As many other Australian animals they were not scared by close observers, probably because they rely on their camouflage and stillness, I was surprised to read that they are nocturnal birds ( no wonder the big eyes) in fact they looked kinda sleepy. After a bit of research I found a few interesting aboriginal stories related to the Bush Stone-curlew, you can read more following this link: http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2010/09/27/bird-of-the-week-the-bush-stone-curlew-as-a-harbinger-of-death-and-more/

-Names- 

English: Bush Stone-curlew

Latin: Burhinus grallarius

Italian: Occhione willaroo

Aboriginal: Willaroo
Ps:  the feathers by the sketch are real, taped on the page. 

There will be more about these birds on this blog in the future...

Until next time!               Matteo