Description
Tiptoe Through The Lilies (Bittern), Original Silk Painting and Signed Giclee Prints
I?ve had it in my mind to try painting Bitterns for a while.? They have a unique way of standing and walking that creates such interesting and graceful shapes. I was inspired to have them standing in a lily pond by a recent trip to Kew Gardens. I think this little guy looks rather nervous, possibly because he really wants to hide…? The bittern is a master of camouflage and they are incredibly rare. They inhabit wetland areas and in the spring the males make a haunting booming sound. If you want to be in with a chance of hearing this incredible sound visit the website of the wildlife trust for a list of likely wetlands. This painting is part of my ‘Birds Behaving Badly’ series.
My paintings are mainly painted on pure Chinese habotai 8 silk with specialist silk paints. I start each work with a drawing on paper and then trace the image onto a piece of white silk stretched onto a wooden frame. I then apply a special paint called gutta, which contains natural latex called gutta-percha, over my traced lines. This creates a resistive barrier through which the coloured ink will not flow. I apply the coloured ink with a brush and use salt dropped into the ink whilst wet to created textured effects.
The finished painting is removed from the wooden frame, ironed to fix the colour in the fabric and stretched onto acid-free mountboard ready for framing.
The original painting will come mounted to fit a 30 x 30 cm frame. The actual image size is 20 x 20 cm. Framed is not included.
A signed giclee print is printed on fine art 308gsm paper using archival inks and is signed by the artist. It is an open edition so there is no limit to the number of reproductions that can be made. The following sizes are available:
| Size | Mount Size (frame size required) | Actual Image Size |
| 20 x 20 cm | 20 x 20 cm | 14 x 14 cm |
