A long-legged bird stands on two fine dark legs, its body washed in blue and olive, a heavy golden beak curving down, and a spray of thin feathers standing up off its head like antennae. A dark red sun hangs in the corner.

This one is ink and watercolour rather than paint on canvas, and you can see the speed in it — the linework is quick and certain, the colour laid in loosely behind. It is the closest thing in his archive to a drummer’s fill: fast, economical, exactly right.

If you came here from my own bird paintings, this is where they come from. Dave Coleman was my grandfather, and the oversized beaks and ringed eyes in my flock are his.

• Print size: 8 × 10 inches
• Original: Ink and watercolour by Dave Coleman (1923–1989)
• Archival giclée on fine art paper

Read the story behind the birds →