To Garden Birds

Watercolour and ink 35.5cm x 25.5cm unframed
 
I love my garden birds and have a bird feeder right outside where I paint. This combines some of the visitors with a poem I wrote and inspiration from medieval illuminated manuscripts. The painting is mainly in watercolour with ink writing and gold ink highlights. I only included birds I regularly see in the garden and they are from my own photographs. Going clockwise form top left we have Starling, Magpie, Nuthatch, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, House Sparrow, Coal Tit, House Martin, Robin, Woodpigeon, Chaffinch and Blackbird. I really like the Winsor and Newton gold ink - its the first time I've used it and I like the results. The poem reads:
Across the nation's gardened land
feathered friends sit close at hand
In murder, trembling, kit and blush;
on table, fence, in tree and bush
With teacher-teacher, pink or tswee
they make their presence known to me.
Above they hover, swoop and soar;
A world of birds outside my door
The references are to collective nouns for some of the birds I see and to the phrases or words used to describe the songs or calls. I hope you enjoy