Courting Puffins and Thrift

Image Size 40 x 30cm

Oil on Canvas

SOLD

Courting Puffins and Thrift was shown with the Society of Animal Artists annual exhibition ‘Art and the Animal’ 2016. The exhibition was in The Houston Museum of Natural Science – September 2016-January 2017.

The painting was chosen to be part of The National Museum Tour 2016-2017 and was shown at:
The Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum in New Jersey,
Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Kansas,
Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.

The painting returned to the UK in 2017 and sold at its first exhibition later that year.

Contact Alison about this painting

Courting Puffins and Thrift was painted in 2015 and shows a pair of puffins billing in a greeting or courtship display. There are two quizzical puffins watching and a fifth looking down The Wick, out to sea. The light was lovely on an early June morning, casting strong shadows which are perfect for colourful blacks and whites.

The puffins that Alison paints are from Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire. They are on the island from May to July for their breeding season. Their numbers are in decline but Skomer Island is a major breeding ground and large numbers can still be seen.

Atlantic Puffins are delightful, sociable birds with their upright stance and striking black back and white underparts. Their red and black eye markings and flat colourful beak and orange feet contrast beautifully with their plumage. They have a quizzical expression that is endearing and rather comical. These beautiful birds have been a firm favourite for Alison to paint, because they really lend themselves to her style.

Alison has an extensive gallery of puffin paintings. Her first interpretation of the ‘clown of the sea’ was a pair of ceramic puffins made for her Ceramics O level in 1985. These are still in her possession.

The first exploration into a new style of painting was ‘Puffin Paradise’ painted in 1999. This painting was entered into The Artist magazine 2000 competition and won the Abstract/Experimental category.

Puffins have remained a favourite subject for Alison to paint and she often has new puffin paintings available.