Animal Magic exhibition at The Beaney Canterbury

Icon of Carduelis carduelis

 

I am pleased to hear that one of my bird icon paintings has been accepted in by The Beaney Gallery and Museum in Canterbury, for their Animal Magic exhibition opening in April.  Icon of Carduelis carduelis the Goldfinch has been chosen.

Painting on the bark before framing.

I had been wanting to use some large pieces of Silver Birch bark, that I'd found on the ground in the Seekers Trust woodland. I'd been to the Seekers on one of my regular retreats, when I saw the bark and brought it home.  For this exhibition I'd been thinking about bird paintings, and the idea of painting a bird on the natural material of bark seemed appropriate.

One of my original sketches

As I painted the birds, a Great Tit and a Goldfinch the idea of an icon arose using gold coloured leaf as well as paint and the sort of halos that are painted around religious figures.

Birds are rightly in my view, often revered and celebrated and I liked that I could symbolize this in some way as an icon.

Icon of Parus major

The exhibition runs from 11th April till the 4th of May, The Beaney website here