Bullfinches
2007
oil on canvas
100 x 70 cm

One year Shetland experienced a spectacular eruption of Bullfinches from Scandinavia and almost every bush was filled with these glowing beauties . This bought to mind a memory of my grandmother Gladys Rose who unbeknown to me had carried one of the first ever drawings I had made with her in her purse , which was a drawing of a bullfinch I made aged 8. When I was an art student in my early 20s, she produced this drawing which was like a revelation to me and a confirmation that birds and art have always been a part of my life .