All Aflutter - The Story Behind the Series

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We are fortunate enough to enjoy a huge range of Australian native bird life here on our farm in Dunedoo, NSW. This series of artworks is a focused celebration of their collective vibrancy and personality. I love the way that birds, that are so different from humans, can also be so similar.

Their expressions show a range of human emotion – joy, concentration, shyness, naughtiness, surprise and more. It’s a wonderful topic to explore on canvas.

I have strong memories of my first budgie (Barney) working very hard to prevent me from doing my homework. He sat on my hand and repeatedly bit the pencil that I was using to complete that afternoon’s worksheet.

I found his attempts to gain my attention hard to resist and while I couldn’t exactly say to the teacher ‘The budgie ate my homework’, I could have truthfully said, ‘My budgie did his best to eat the pencil I needed to do my homework’!

My brother also had a pet budgie. We would each take our birds to the far extremities of the house and have races back to our bedrooms. As my brother and I didn’t have the advantage of wings, our budgies usually won. They knew exactly what was going on and loved the game. They were terrific pets.

These days I can see the range of birds that play in our garden, and paddocks beyond. They share the same sense of fun and adventure. Their idiosyncracies are a joy to record and have provided endless inspiration for my artworks.

click here for a closer look at this collection