Australian birds are nature's gift to anyone painting. The colour palettes are dramatic, the shapes are clean, and they're instantly recognisable as ours.
Custom paint-by-numbers turns a phone photo from your backyard into something you'll want on the wall.
Why Native Birds Translate So Well
Strong colour blocking (the lorikeet, the black cockatoo, the king parrot) makes for clean section work. Birds also tend to hold still long enough to photograph clearly.
Even a slightly blurry phone photo of a magpie produces an excellent reference for a custom kit.
Best Species to Paint
Rainbow lorikeet (colour), kookaburra (character), Australian magpie (form), gang-gang or black cockatoo (drama), galah (softness), superb fairy-wren (cuteness, but harder due to scale).
Pick the species you actually see in your yard — the resulting painting means more.
Photographing the Bird Yourself
Phone in burst mode, taken through an open window if needed. Side-on or three-quarter view. Background uncluttered (sky or single-colour fence is ideal).
We can crop and clean up most backyard photos; the bird is what we need to be in focus.
Where to Hang the Finished Piece
Living room, sunroom, or — appropriately — near a window looking out at the same garden the bird came from. Australian native bird paintings sit beautifully against eucalypt-green or warm-stone walls.
They look distinctly Australian, in the best way.
A painting of a bird you actually see in your yard is the most Australian wall art there is. Custom paint-by-numbers makes it possible from a phone photo.
— Be Artistic Club