New Book Release: Watercolour Explorations on Australian Wildlife Vol.1

I am very happy to announce the recent release of my self-published book Watercolour Explorations on Australian Wildlife Vol.1, 90 pages, 7 × 7 in / 18 × 18 cm, available in soft cover, hard cover with dust jacket or hard cover image wrap and as an eBook.

  'After witnessing the beauty of Nature, often rises a compelling need to capture its fleeting essence to make it visible once again, to linger on that beauty, giving it that little bit more permanence allowed by art. My ultimate goal was to draw the attention to that beauty and to share it. Watercolour explorations on Australian Wildlife is a tribute to nature. It is also a collection of watercolours and drawings completed between 2010 and 2013 in and around Brisbane, Australia.'

 Watercolour Explorations on Australian Wildlife Vol.1 would make a perfect gift for anyone interested in Australian wildlife and nature, birds, natural history, watercolour art, birdwatching or travel, for grown ups and children alike. By clicking on the link above you will be able to see a preview of the book. Feel free to share it with your contacts. 

Thank you. 

MG

Kookaburra Couple

Greeting Cards available

I was captured by the unassuming colours of this bird contrasting so greatly with their strong personality. The explosive 'laughter' of the Laughing Kookaburras Dacelo novaeguineae, can be heard mostly before the sunrise, when it's still dark and after the sunset, just before complete darkness. It is a territorial signal. According to the Aboriginal belief, the Kookaburra's laughter every morning is a signal to the sky people to light the great fire that illuminates and warms the earth. The name 'kookaburra' apparently comes from an Aboriginal language that is now extint, the Wiradhuri from New South Wales.

Males and females are almost identical, I've been told males have blue feathers on the rump or upper-tail covert feathers. They can be very friendly especially when people feed them, but I red on the magazine called Australian Wildlife Secrets that it is not recommended to feed meat to wild birds as meat for human consumption is too rich in fat and protein for wildlife.

They hunt from the branches or from a favourite perch from which they observe the surroundings until a prey moves close. I once saw a male offering a small snake to the female, but she was not interested... According to the scientific classification, the Kookaburra belongs to the family of the King Fishers Halcyonidae but instead of living by the water, they evolved to be able to live in the drier conditions of the the bush and woodlands of Australia. 

Short update from my shop: international free postage now available for all Original Artworks

Until next time

All the best

M

Kookaburra sketch + Walt Whitman's reflections

The Italian nature artist Angela Maria Russo http://angelamariarusso.blogspot.com/ commented on one of my  previous posts quoting the words written by the American poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892). I think his words, intentionally provoking, give food for thought and deserve to be shared.

'I think I could turn and live with animals,

 They are so placid and self contained,

I stand and look at them long and long.

They do not sweat and whine about their condition,

They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,

They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,

Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,

Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,

Not one is respected or unhappy over the whole earth'.

Walt Whitman   Leaves of Grass

Until next time!                 Matteo

New generations and feathers

Autumn encounters: new generations, a young Kookaburra, and moulted feathers, one from the Kookaburra's tail. 

Latest Yeronga Park Sketches

I am keeping an eye to that Scaly-breasted Lorikeets' nest, it seems they've got chicks to feed, while into the other couple's nest on the other side of the tree there doesn't seem to be a family... I've been using a new kind of art material experiment that is a fountain pen filled with watercolor paint (charcoal gray), it is giving brilliant results so far...