Kingfisher

If you have ever seen a kingfisher in real life you will know how stunning they are. That flash of electric blue and orange is like nothing else in nature.

I used pastels for this one because the vibrant pigments in pastels are perfect for capturing those intense colours. The detail work in the feathers was done with sharp pastel pencils — you can see individual barbs on the wing feathers if you look closely.

Getting the iridescent quality of the blue plumage was the biggest challenge. In real life it changes depending on the angle of the light and I tried to suggest that shimmer in the piece. Really happy with how this one turned out.