Dr Megan Spiers

Eastern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis)

inspiration

This bird is dazzling, like a splash of Cadmium Yellow Light in the soft blue-grey palette of Australia’s tall timber forests.

While camping in the Watagans near Sydney, the dawn mist dispersed to reveal an Eastern Yellow Robin foraging sideways on a tall tree. Found in a wide range of environments, I have observed these birds in a pocket of monzonite rainforest near Milton, an endangered ecological habitat of the Sydney Basin Bioregion.

This painting is a pair with the Red-Capped Robin, titled “Radiant.” Both acquired by a private collector at my exhibition in the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney, November 2009. Shortly afterwards, he commissioned another painting – portrait of a Pink Robin titled “Splendid” – to create a matching set of three.

artist’s process

• I covered the original pencil drawing in masking fluid before applying a watercolour wash
• I chose acrylic for the bird to add greater depth of colour and form