"Iridescence"

(New Zealand Tui)

Scratchboard & Ink (12x16in)

The New Zealand Tui is one of my most favourite songbirds.
The Tui's dawn chorus along with their native comrades the Bellbird, is an incredible thing to experience!

The tui's feathers are such iridescent in colouring, I have tried to simulate this iridescence by using Daler-Rowney FW inks and Pearlescent Inks, and glazing with some shimmer blues and greens. I also had some fun creating a contemporary metallic look background with the Peatrlescent inks. Please scroll down for closeups.

The tui reference photo was taken at Zealandia Eco Park, Karori, Wellington, such a beautiful place to visit if you are in the region, to experience some of New Zealand's native birds up close including tuui, bellbirds, kiwi, kaka and takahe. Most of the birds are in a predator-free park and are free to fly away but are fairly well fed at feeding stations, so they have it pretty good in there! The 225 hectare ecosanctuary is a groundbreaking conservation project that has reintroduced 18 species of native wildlife back into the area, 6 of which were previously absent from mainland New Zealand for over 100 years. Zealandia even have a free shuttle bus going from Te Papa Museum in the city, I can thoroughly recommend!

Open Edition Giclee Prints available at Image Vault Prints
& in Marlborough at Lilac Wine Gallery

Also available as Fine Art Cards

Framed in a beautiful latice wood moulding, with a Bellini black fillet

Some closeups to show the detailing of the feathers and iridescence with the pearlescent and shimmer inks

A short video on my Instagram account showing the early stages of etching the feathers (before painting)...

WIP Tui scratchboard. This one will be coloured so there's not much in the way of tonal values going on as yet. It is scratched/etched out more than usual, to enable the ink to lay in there better. I'm going with a more contemporary background this time (deep breath!) 😝 can't wait to work on it more tomorrow! From a photo taken very recently at Zealandia Eco Park in Wellington. #nodayoffonsunday #artist #inthestudio #wildlife #wildlifeart #nzbirds #tui #newzealand #newzealandbirds #nativebirds #scratchboard #ampersand #scratchboardartist #karennealartist

A post shared by Karen Neal (@karennealartist) on Jun 23, 2017 at 10:14pm PDT