Where the Birds Bathe

Birds love a fresh puddle. On one of these walks I saw them bathing, splashing at the edges of the water where the path dipped.Where the Birds Bathe is their spot: a wide pool of sky, a headland of warm orange mud reaching out into it, and one small island, just big enough for a bird to stand on.About the After The Rain collectionAfter The Rain started with a muddy woodland walk in Berkshire. The rain had just stopped and the puddles along the path were full of bright sky. Around them was a whole small world: footprints of people, dogs and horses pressed into the mud, and birds bathing at the edges.I painted that walk as one large painting, After The Rain. But the puddles stayed with me, so I kept walking and kept painting. These smaller paintings come from several walks around Berkshire, mostly in summer and at different times of day. I've woven in the reds and oranges of autumn too, because they're all around me as I paint, and they're gorgeous.Each painting tells its own small story. They work together in any order, so two or three can hang side by side as a group.MaterialsThe details table says mixed-media. Here, that means acrylic paint, sand, texture paste, diamond dust (crushed glass) and imitation gold leaf.The mud is a thick mix of sand, texture paste and acrylic, built up with a palette knife so you can feel every ridge. The puddles are covered in diamond dust, which catches the light the way water does. A thin line of imitation gold leaf traces each puddle where the mud meets the water.The painting is on canvas board.The frameThe painting measures 6 x 6 inches (15 x 15 cm) and is float mounted in a white box frame measuring 10 x 10 inches (25 x 25 cm), so you can see it right to its edges. The frame is 6 cm (about 2.25 inches) deep, which gives the small painting real presence on the wall.There is no glass. Nothing sits between you and the surface, so the ridges of the mud, the sparkle of the diamond dust and the fine line of gold leaf are seen just as they are in the studio.It arrives ready to hang, with a sawtooth hanger on the back.