Artist: Deborah Sheehy

Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Dimensions: 7” x 5”

Year: 2016

This painting was commissioned by a gallery as part of a Scottish wildlife series.

The curious little clown bird is a favourite of many, and it is easy to see why. Colourful, friendly, and inquisitive, they are hard to resist. Although I remember being shocked when I first discovered just how small these birds are (about the size of a pigeon!), which only adds to the cute factor as far as I’m concerned.

I painted my puffin with a hazy purple background representing the wild edge-of-world places where puffins’ dwell.