Red-headed Barbet Metal Print

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This small painting of a Red-headed Barbet (Eubucco bourcierii) is one of my all-time favourites, and like many studies of the kind I like to do. It shows a small, colourful barbet found in Central America and parts of tropical South America. Barbets are probably more or less related to such groups of birds as woodpeckers and toucans, and I think of these as the “middle birds”, the non-aquatic, non-predatory, non-songbird species that also includes cuckoos, parrots, trogons, hornbills, kingfishers, rollers, broadbills and so on. I love painting them. Most species are tropical, and I call them “middle” because in bird books and checklists of birds they are usually in the middle, with a lineage not as ancient as species such as loons and cormorants, but not as recently evolved as the songbirds. What makes this little painting and others like it so pleasing to me is that it allowed me to exercise my knowledge of my subject by showing diverse poses from different angles, all...

Renowned Canadian bird artist, writer, naturalist, and conservationist, Barry Kent MacKay has “always been an admirer of birds, anxious to see them, paint them, and care for them.” Barry’s biological and ecological accuracy has put him in demand for commissions, to illustrate books, scientific journals and various print and digital media. He has painted birds and other wildlife from around the world, often life size, working in oils, watercolours, and acrylics. He prefers to sell original art, and keeps prices low. “Actual, original art should be affordable for middle class buyers,” he says. “I avoid having to depend on selling reproductions so that the market does not dictate what I paint, which can often be little-known...