Ringed Xenica Butterfly, a book and framed works at Coastal Artisans

 Ringed Xenica Geitoneura acantha, walnut ink and handmade watercolours on Fabriano paper, 15 x 15 cm, © Matteo Grilli

 American-Australian writer Geraldine M. North recently published her book Butcher Bird, a collection of short stories from rural Australia. The book is a pleasure to read and features some illustrations of mine. It is available on Amazon 

At Coastal Artisans in Peregian Beach, there are some newly framed works and some Giclee prints of mine among the stunning showcase of other artists and artisans:

Here is a photo of the beautiful beach at Peregian:

Feather, Beetle and Skull: painting blacks without black

From left: feather of a Tawny Frogmouth, Podargus strigoides; Rhinoceros Beetle, Xylotrupes ulysses; skull of a Pied Butcherbird, Cracticus nigrogularis.

This small painting is a technical exploration on how to reach the darkest darks without using any black-containing pigment - no black, neutral tint, Payne's grey, seppia or indigo. A bit daunting considering that neutrals have always been my favourite and most used colours from the beginning. Yet I can now say that chromatic greys offer a neverending, moody, subtle and beautiful alternative to the black pigments. Colours used: Perylene Maroon, Phthalo Green, Prussian Blue, Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre, Ultramarine Blue, Titanium (opaque) White for the very last few details on the beetle.

Garden Visitors - the Pied Butcherbird

Every morning at dawn, in that time frame when all birds sing the most, in spring, I could hear this strange flute-like call from the Pied Butcherbird -Cracticus nigrogularis- the tune was perfect in pitch and time and slightly varied at times. It sounded very 'human' in the sense that I thought it was somebody whistling. I recorded it and transcribed it:

This bird may be considered the singer of the bush, with its huge repertoire of calls and songs of its own but also borrowed from other sources. For some reason they are aware that when a human is gardening there might be insects and worms around, so they come and perch very closely to the working gardener and carefully observe the surroundings until an insect runs away from the digging and pruning. The hunter then quickly flies down and grabs its meal.

Their calls and songs are made up of a wide range of mellow, sweet, mysterious and sad whistles and it is one of the most characteristic sound of the bush and suburban gardens. The pair living around our garden regularly comes for drinking and bathing in the bird bath just in front of my studio window. To watch and listen to them is a big pleasure. Once, just during one of its visit, it flew straight from the bird bath to the wall of the building behind it, flying away in less than a second with a gecko in its beak. Very skilled hunter, no wonder we now have a big curious young discovering the world after its parents.