Chris Osborne Art 
Robin the Red
The Story Behind the Painting
Yes I love my birds and I remember watching them in our back yard as a kid, when I used to live in England.
I remember the little blue tits pecking the tops of milk bottle tops to drink the cream as the bottle stood in the snow. Now that’s showing my age, I also remember them having Christmas pattens on the lids too.
This painting is from a photograph I took while visiting Yorkshire Wildlife Park. It was one of my last few days in England 2018 and a treat for my birthday from my stepmother to try and cheer me up from getting dumped by my girlfriend.
We had just been visiting the big cats and while I was waiting for everyone to get together to see what animals we would visit next, I spotted a flash of red to my right.
Perched on a fence post was a little robin redbreast, I get excited by the smallest things, In a wildlife park full of exotic animals I go nuts over a wild robin.
I ask mum what she would like me to paint her for Christmas, I get a text to draw an owl then she messaged me a day later to change her request to an English robin.
My Painting Process
Here is the pencil sketch and where the magic begins.
I thought this painting needed a nice light background as the dark background from the day before was not the style I was looking for.
Well the fence post that this little robin was sat on didn’t have and snow to paint since it was summer in England. I had to use someone else photo of snow as a guide.
After about 4hrs later moved onto a rough undercoat of colour for the robin.
The final stages took about another 5hrs to complete with many coats to get all the feathers right.
Gouache Colour Palette
I use Winsor & Newton Gouache on Arches France Watercolour Paper, Cold Pressed.
My painting come from my own experiences that I have lived and photographed while traveling. By reading this blog, you as a viewer can now hear The Story Behind the Painting. Where, when, what was happening while I was photographing the wildlife.
If you want more details about my adventures checkout my travel blog website www.ChrisOsborneAdventures.wordpress.com
Enjoy, Chris Osborne
Chris Osborne Art 