Awards and Ducklings

My series of small-size sketches of the birds of Banks Street Reserve continues with a Pacific Black Duckling.

Happy memories from the latest Queensland Wildlife Artists Society exhibition 'Wild Impressions'. My Southern Boobook received Best Australian Wildlife on Exhibit award, thank you to the society and judge Philip Farley.

With Secretary Esther Horton, President Cathy Howie, Judge Philip Farley.
Photos copyright QWASI 2019

Sketches of the Birds of Banks Street Reserve and 'Wild Impressions' Exhibition

After two years of visiting Banks Street Reserve, a beautiful urban park at only five kilometres from the Brisbane city, I felt like starting a series of small-size watercolour sketches about the birds I can see there. Starting with an Eastern Spinebill and a White-browed Scrubwren.

I am very excited to be part of this coming exhibition in Brisbane with the Queensland Wildlife Artists Society, I will be demonstrating on the Sunday afternoon. 

For those of you who are on Instagram, you can now follow my artwork and photography there too! I post some material that does not get share anywhere else like some of my best photos taken after my birding outings.

Welcome Swallow

Welcome Swallow, handmade watercolour, white gouache on Khadi handmade watercolour paper, 

25 x 24 cm, © Matteo Grilli.

This watercolour only required three colours, Prussian Blue, Madder Red Deep and Burnt Sienna and white gouache for some highlights.

Summer holiday sketch: view of Monte Conero from Porto Recanati

During my recent holiday in Italy I enjoyed sketching on the beach of my hometown Porto Recanati, this is a view of Mt Conero as seen from the northern beach of the town.

The page previous to the sketch contains some colour tests and a bird list from a day spent bird watching in the countryside.

Young Red Kangaroo

This image is available as a greeting card

Work in progress...

First sketch

Christmas Ideas and a New Painting

I developed this watercolour after taking some photos of this immature Australian King-parrot on the front veranda, the patchy red of the head shows that this is a young male, with time the green feathers of its head will change to a bright red. Below is the first sketch I drew on my sketchbook with some colour studies to find the right mixes and colour harmonies.

Immature Australian King-parrot, watercolour on paper, 16.5 x 23.5 cm, © Matteo Grilli 2014

Christmas is getting closer, it's never too early to order a unique and original gift from my online store, with more than 140 items to choose from and an array of original works (worldwide free shipping), greeting cards, bookmarks, reproductions, a children's book, and more, there is something for any taste and budget. If you are overseas or your order is going to be sent outside of Australia, make sure to order before December 4th to allow enough time for your gift to be processed and delivered. If your gift stays in Australia, you should order by December 18th.

And, if one artwork is not enough, why not ordering a copy of my book 'Watercolour Explorations on Australian Wildlife' containing a large collection of artworks completed between 2010 and 2013?

Until next time,

MG

Meeting the Peewee

The Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca) is a very common suburban bird in Brisbane, it is often seen searching for food walking frantically across lawns, in pairs most of the times, if one is around usually the other is not far. I had the chance to study a breeding pair for a while and I was able to notice some very interesting things.

Male and female pair for life, different sexes have different colour patterns, females (above) have white forehead and throat, while males (below) have white eyebrows, black forehead and throat. Jouveniles have a mixed pattern with white throat and large white eyebrows, dark eyes and beak, audults have very light eyes and beak.

Both parents are very protective and won't hesitate to attack much larger birds which may be a threat for the nest such as crows. The nest is built with mud, grass and leaves. Male and female exchange nest duties approximately every 15 minutes, they both search for food so the babies can enjoy a constant food supply.

As the day gets hotter the parent stops sitting on the baby birds and stands over them with wings half open to provide shade to the nestlings.

Magpie-larks, also known as Peewees, are known to sing in duet to defend their territory. Each partner produces about one note a second but a half-second apart, so to the human ear it sounds coming from the same bird.

This beautiful bird has a very charming black and white plumage, which seems to be rather in fashion for Australian birds, their flying style reminds me of that of some bigger species of butterflies.

I hope you enjoyed reading about the Magpie-lark, until next time,

Matteo

Botanical Studies, Markets and a Creative Exchange

During the past holiday weeks I decided to start working on some botanical sketches of leaves, just to start looking into the never-ending shades of greens and how to achieve them. I'm finding it very daunting yet fascinating. During the last year or so I started studying colours very thoroughly and in doing so I took out all the colours of my palette that didn't have the features I needed to achieve my goals. I ended up using a rather limited choice of favourite pigments which has been able to provide me with any colour I needed so far. I like keeping it simple to get the best and most varied mixes out of them. It worked, until I started mixing to match those greens... Any thought from the botanical artists who follow this blog will be much appreciated.

I started selling my art at the Bardon Community Market which takes place every Sunday 6am to 1pm in Baroona Road, Paddington, Brisbane. This was my very first time trying to sell at a market so my equipment still needs to be improved, my stall still looks small and rather flimsy, but there is a good choice of small-size prints, original artworks, greeting cards, bookmarks and origami. It has been a very nice and rewarding experience so far to be able to show my work to people outside the Internet and I'm very grateful to all those who stopped to take a look, ask questions, sign up for my newsletter, buy or just to have a chat about the local birds. By the way, there is a family of three Boobook Owls roosting inside the thick foliage of a big tree just in front of my stall, so, for all Brisbane residents who are following my blog, you are very welcome to come and say hi and take a look at those amazing owls. I'm planning to sell at the Bardon Market at least two Sundays a month, depending on the weather.

This is a beautiful sculpture I commissioned to the amazing sculptress/artist Harriet Knibbs, I have been following her blog for a while and I am in awe every time I take a visit. Her life-like sculptures of animals have a special effect on me as they remind me of my childhood, when I used to play and collect small toy figurines of all sorts of animals. Also, I have a soft spot for animal sculpture in general and I always thought that if I ever was to commission somebody a sculpture, that had to be Harriet. So I did, but what we ended up doing was a reciprocal creative commission, I asked her for a Common Pheasant and in turn, she accepted an original painting and asked for a Turtle Dove, which I painted for her with much pleasure. I chose the Common Pheasant because it is a bird I've been fond of for a very long time, and it is part of many good memories. I must admit that I miss not seeing it here in Australia. So there it is now, being a good totem on my desk, watching over my creative endeavours.

Turtle Dove for Harriet Knibbs

A South-east Queensland Spring Walk

 The Nudgee Beach Reserve is located on Brisbane's north coast and not far from the airport. It is part of the Boondall Wetlands Park, a favourite of mine, where wildlife is always aboundant and sightings are guaranteed. The location is equipped with wooden paths that will bring you over the muddy banks of Nudgee Creek where lots and lots of crabs hide themselves in their burrows just as you walk over.

The walk stretches on in a very interesting habitat characterized by Mangroves growing on both sides of the path, the ground looks rather muddy due to the changing tides thus making the perfect environment for the crabs. Bird life is also rich, in Spring the sweet song of the Mangrove Greygone fills every corner of the mangrove bush, just as the call of the Collared Kingfishers, chasing each other between the braches and over the mudflats at lowtide.

 At the point when the mangrove bush thins out, the banks of the creek become sandy and still with plenty of high trees around, it provides the perfect habitat for the Rainbow Bee-eaters, Merops ornatus, a migrant from the north who spends Spring, Summer and Autumn down south. 

Their shape in flight, their musical chattering and their colours make them unmistakable. A range of greens, blues, yellows, blacks and oranges darting in the sky is always an exciting sight.

The colours of the Rainbow Bee-eater

But they are rather shy and won't allow you to get too close, so good binoculars are a must. Their agility on air is outstanding, they make catching insects in flight look like the easiest thing. The male allowed me to watch him for a long time as he was perched on a lower branch a Eucalyptus tree in the shade. I was able to notice the only difference between male and female that is the pair of central tail feathers. Both sexes have two extended shafts which are longer in males.

Preliminary sketch

Somewhere, hidden between the sands along Nudgee Creek is their tunnel nest, bearing the new generation of Rainbow Bee-eaters.

City Life - the Australian White Ibis

The breeding season for the Australian White Ibis, Threskiornis molucca, has started here in Brisbane. Couples are building nests with twigs and small branches, usually not far from water and high on trees like Mangroves, Palms and also thick Bamboo. Some may probably already have eggs or young hatchlings.

Once the jouveniles leave the nest, they are very easily distinguished from the audults, they have a shorter bill and a dark feathery head compared to the bald head and neck of audults. The new generations also have a much whiter colour compared to the 'dirty' white of their parents. 

They have a very strong prehistoric look with their bald, wrinkly and scaly skin of head and neck. During the breeding season some magenta-carmine scales of skin appear at the back of audults' heads, as well as along the legs, their blue-black ornamental tertiary feathers become wider and shinier. They also seem to become more vocal and territorial or competitive, honking at each other very loudly.

They are opportunistic birds and they've adapted very very well to urban and suburban conditions, it looks like they are more common than crows and pigeons in Brisbane, invasive and shameless they often jump on cafe tables and walk among pedestrians across Queen Street Mall. Not very loved by people... but in the end they're just making the best out of what's available, aren't we doing just the same?

An older ink sketch

Ducks

Hardhead or White-eyed Duck is the name of the only australian diving duck, the dark brown-reddish headed one in the sketches. And that is also the only one at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens. There is something wrong with one wing, he can't completely spread it so he can't fly. I wonder how he got to that place... maybe he was found injured, then rescued and released in that safe place. The other ducks in the sketches are the Pacific Blak Ducks.

Australian White Ibises in Brisbane

These native protected birds have learned very well to take advantage over human activity. The Brisbane Botanic Gardens are filled with nests and young fledglings. I find them amazing to draw as they have endless everchanging shapes to capture.