Pheasant Painting and Pheasant Art 

Not sure what it is about pheasants but I do enjoy painting them.  They have such a great aray of colours.

Each painting starts with a detailed drawing which is followed by a generally very loose and abstract aproach to watercolour painting. 

"Pheasant No.2"

One of my earliest pheasant paintings and still on of my favourites.  This is also my best selling limited edition Pheasant print. 

Pheasant Art

The side on profile allowed me to be fairly abstract with the body .  The only real detail is around the feet and head.   Although I have an image in my head of what I want a painting to look like before I start, it's impossible to know exactly how it will turn out.  That is the nature of painting "wet in wet" with watercolours, things just flow and merge in a completly unpredictable way.  

Here is a short timelapse video to shows "Flushed Pheasant" being painted.

This is "Pheasant X"  - My 10th pheasant painting.   I think it must be the pose of this chap that seem to me to give him a regal air.  There is also more detail in this than usual so it has a more traditional feel about it.  This isa  "Home in the Country" sort of pheasant :)

Pheasants and particularly Pheasnt Art seems to has some intersting symbolisim attached to them that I wasnt aware of until recently.

"The pheasant spirit animal symbolises seductiveness and fertility, and passion and attraction, just like the lion spirit animal."

There's also an intersting article on the History of the Pheasant that goes back to 1066

My pheasant painting have been used to create a wide selction of Pheasant prints that have been used on cushions, scarves and even wine bottle lables. You can see lots of pheasant print cushions in my shop.