Pastel on Supertooth paper        Original SOLD

52 x 29 cm.

A wildly fast and low, looping flight is followed by a high, piercing whistle and the buzz of whirring wings as a male eastern spinebill rockets through our garden in an endless quest for the next nectar-rich flower. Spinebills never seem to do anything half-hearted and go everywhere at the speed of tiny jet fighters. The only time they slowdown is when they hover like over-sized hummingbirds, wings a rapid blur, sipping nectar from the various flowering plants they work on a continuous rotation from dawn till dusk.  'Spinies' are my favourite honeyeater and always have been ... to my eye the perfect blend of efficiency, ebullience and a delicate beauty.

This pastel painting shows the spinebill at his best as he paused briefly on a gorgeous hakea which is just now blooming in the garden right at the front of my gallery.