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This original circular watercolour painting is a celebration of a visit to Costa Rica. Having been lucky enough to visit Central America in 2024 I achieved an ambition of seeing toucans and macaws in the wild, along with many other stunning and fascinating wildlife.
I adore toucans and was surprised at how well camouflaged they are. This bird basically has a banana stuck on it’s face, but is really hard to spot – how does that work? The beak looks like a leaf catching the sunlight, so until they fly it breaks up the silhouette and they are quite tricky to see. But see them we did!
I was inspired to experiment upon my return and wanted to make them one with their environment without painting an entire forest. I used a texture paste to create a background which would shine through the bird and applied gorgeous vibrant washes to capture the vitality and life of Costa Rica. The country is rightly proud of its biodiversity and I wanted to communicate its verdant nature.
You can invite a splash of this life force into your home with special painting. I chose the unique tondo or circular format to emphasise the circular relationship we have with the living world. I hope you love toucans as much as I do!
The painting is sealed with a UV protective varnish and then carefully waxed and buffed with a cold wax medium to enrich the colours. It is strung and ready to hang. You might also like to look at other toucans I have on both paper and canvas. If you wish to frame this piece, yes circular frames are available at a good framer to suit your decor. They will be able to advise you.
