Tiotio Ruru



Tiotio Ruru 2011

I adore ruru; there is something quite magical about their ability to swoop past on silent feathers. Years ago I was at a family friend's house and after dinner we sat in the dark watching out ruru out the window pounce on moths that were attracted to the porch light. It really was like a silent ballet.

No camping trip or bush stay is quite complete without being lulled to sleep with the 'morepork' call of the ruru. It so reminds me of my childhood.

Tiotio refers to the 'call' of the ruru, again I have used the pattern from a vintage copperplate to symbolise the sound that he makes.

Korimako Waiwai

close up of Korimako Waiwai

I finally got the korimako watercolour finished and able to print him off to join wee piwakawaka. Unfortunately I overworked the kotare painting so I am going to redo it again at sometime as it was looking so cute. Enjoy :)

I haven't used watercolours in this way for a while so it has been fun getting used to them again. Korimako has turned out really well in my view, he has that cheeky twinkle that I associate with bellbirds and aim to capture when painting them.

Should you be interested in checking him out, limited edition prints of him are available for sale on Felt Korimako Waiwai listing on Felt

The Grey Ghost

image from the forest and bird blog

This evening there was an article on the Sunday programme about the South Island Kokako. Bird enthusiasts have labelled it the Grey Ghost due to it's ability to blend into the mist and to avoid being seen. It was declared officially extinct in 2007, much to the sadness of many of us who share a passion for our indigenous species. You can view the article in the Forest and Bird blog here, Bird Stalkers article

However there is still hope, a group of ornathologists who go by the name  SIKIT, (South Island Kokako Investigation Team) are appealing to people who have had encounters with the birds. A recorded South Is kokako call that was documented over a year ago has inspired further attempts to prove that the red wattled kokako is still in existance. You can check out there official site here, The Grey Ghost Let's hope that they can find further evidence soon so that the species can get the support it needs to continue.

Forest and Bird

tātāeko / whitehead

Here is an interesting article talking about the variety of bird life that existed in Auckland prior to it becoming an urban sprawl. Yay for programmes like the Ark in the Park for coming up with ways to try and bring back some diversity of bird life back into the Auckland region Forest and Bird article

Manukura

'Manukura' means of chiefly status

He is just gorgeous! Follow the link to the full article Herald article on Manukura

Manu Waiwai

Kotare in progress

This idea has been in my head for quite sometime and I have finally had the chance to sit down and experiment with it. Watercolour manu! I like the idea of prodcing a range of images which are more affordable and easily produced once the initial painting has been perfected.

I think he will look gorgeous when he is finished

After experimenting with my printer I have managed to get it to accept 300 gms paper and the final results are fabulous. The inks are of top quality and are said to have very good archival propertities.

Piwakawaka Waiwai 2011

Here is one that is completed, in it's printed form. Waiwai refers to the watery media that was used to create the image. The subtleties of the watercolour process are still visible, which to me was very important. They are all signed and in an edition of 50.

detail

At this stage I am considering printing half of the edition on canvas, but at this stage I will just stick with the paper. Piwakawaka Waiwai is available for purchase on Felt

Tui Mahira

This is the latest bird to add to the whanau, Tui Mahira; meaning nosey tui. I loved the photo that I based this guy off and I am stoked with how I captured his inquisitiveness within the painting. Here I also experimented with working in a wider variety of blue hues within his wing feathers. The original image had been pushed through photoshop I think. Enjoy. Link to Tui Mahira