Artist Ian Davie uses swan feathers as a canvas for his intricate paintings. Mr Davie, 44, collects the quills from a swannery near his home in Snowdonia National Park, Wales, and takes up to a week to create each work of art. After cleaning the white feathers and individually straightening them out with tweezers, he then begins the arduous process of painting. The former gamekeeper only picked up a paintbrush for the first time in 2004, and now his works sell for around £700 each.
He said: “I had a rather chequered work history before my art took off that included marketing and design, taxidermy, farming and working as a gamekeeper in and around Snowdonia.
“I eventually started with a traditional canvas five years ago and discovered to my surprise that I was quite adept at painting.
“I then went on holiday to New Zealand where I met my wife Tracey and observed the feather art of the Maori people.
“A light bulb went on in my mind when I made the connection and realised that in my time in Wales I had observed hundreds of swan feathers on the ground, which were literally all blank canvasses.”
Mr Davie uses a tiny 000-size brush to fill in the finer details of his paintings, using acrylic paint to protects and coat the feather.
Source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk
