#8 White-eye
#8 White-eye (760mm x 610mm acrylic)
Sitting quietly at the edge of the stream I listened as the flock slowly moved up the valley, following the course of the river until the bushes and small trees around me were filled with their twittering calls, a symphony of songs that momentarily drowned out the trickling of the tannin-coloured waters at my feet. Darting from branch to branch with flashes of green mingling with the sunlit leaves, they lingered only long enough to see if there was anything of interest before darting off again, with the occasional pause close to where I was sitting to check if I was friend or foe. It wasn’t long before they had moved on up the valley, and the sound of the water as it tumbled its way to the sea returned to my ears.
This painting required a slightly different approach, for I wanted to capture the gentle calm greens that make these riverside glades such tranquil and inviting places, sanctuaries in which to sit quietly and bear witness to nature’s gift of inner peace. I employed a combination of watercolour and acrylic techniques, allowing the white of the canvas to give life to the greens of the foliage by only applying a series of thin translucent glazes before using traditional acrylic methods to paint the inquisitive white-eye.
Noel Ashton’s Wildlife Studio – www.noelashton.com
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