FEBRUARY 2020: THE MAKING OF WATTLE DREAMING

WIP of Wattle Dreaming

Inspired by the wattle season last year, I decided to attempt my very first portrait of a Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo peering through a wattle bloom. My original colour palette relied on various yellow tones to evoke the brilliant burst of flowering golden wattles, however, by the end of the month I was looking at a very somber retro colour palette.

Although this illustration has been an absolute labour of love, I found myself fretting over this bird’s bewildering feather patterns until it was time to be delivered to the gallery. The composition, design of the flowers and various patterns have been inspired by traditional Japanese pine motifs that are commonly used in textiles.