It has been a long time since I completed a large-scale oil painting and recently I felt inspired again. I chose to paint an impressionist version of some of the most prominent flora and birds of the fynbos region that I live in, here in Cape Town.

So, I painted a scene with proteas, restios and sunbirds against a mountain scene in the background. I just finished it yesterday and am quite pleased with the result.

The full painting is seen here, it is quite large, about 100cm by 60cm.

Here are some of the specific focus areas.

MALACHITE SUNBIRD ON KING PROTEA

Here, in this close-up, you can see the brilliantly green male malachite sunbird sitting on a King Protea, South Africa's national flower.

#ORANGE-BREASTED SUNBIRD
The orange-breasted sunbird is endemic to the fynbos (meaning it is found nowhere else but in the south-western Cape of South Africa. It is a brilliant little bird and one of my favourites.

CAPE GRASSBIRD

Finally, we have the Cape Grassbird perching on some restios (reed-like grassy components of the fynbos). I love these little fellows with their moustaches.