Painting Birds has been a more recent development. Somehow, when doing landscapes, birds just get into the scene!
Besides that, after moving to Mapua, I was inevitably drawn into the local interest in a great white heron who has adopted our area
as its wintering-over place. This character, who has been called Hamish by older residents, is a pretty smart bird, happily accepting
all offers of fish trimmings from the seaside cafe and foraging in the nearby estuary over low tide
He leaves for the Summer Breeding Season looking resplendent in full breeding plumage
Hence, many 'Hamish' paintings