Spinifex Pigeon and Kings Canyon
A quick sketching/painting post about the Spinifex Pigeon (Geophaps plumifera).
I was so excited to finally see these birds in person in the outback. Crested pigeons (spinifex pigeons’ blue-grey cousins) are common around Australia but spinifex pigeons are mostly found in the outback so I’d never seen one, and I was really looking forward to it.
Surely seeing it it in the Central Australian desert, with the plumage of the bird against the gorgeous reds, browns and oranges of the desert would be stunning?
It was, and I was definitely not disappointed.
Spinifex pigeon against Kings Canyon, ink and wash, completed Jan 2022.
The subspecies we saw (and depicted above) was probably the leucogaster subspecies based on where we saw them. There are two other subspecies: the plumifera subspecies is mostly in the Kimberley and northwest Northern Territory and the ferruginea subspecies is found in the Pilbara according to the Australian Bird Guide.
Creating the page
This is a bit of a different page (so far) to most of my other sketchbook pages. I did this as part of Philip Harris’ Domestika course, and part of that was to capture a bird and a landscape that it would be in to form a finished piece.
While we’d seen the pigeons in a few places during our camping trip, and their colouring against the reds was always splendid, I decided to use the backdrop of Kings’ Canyon/Watarrka because of the dramatic landscape.
Some of the photos also had a bit of green for contrast so it wouldn’t just be a dusty orange bird against a dusty orange backdrop.
Rough composition sketches - I ended up going with #2 (top right) because I wanted to showcase the whole bird.
Colours Used:
Ink: Winsor and Newton Black Indian Ink
For the sky:
Mostly: Schmincke Cobalt Turquoise PG 50
Mission Gold Cobalt Blue PB 28
For the greens and foliage:
Mostly: Schmincke Olive Green Yellowish PO 62 and PG 36
Mission Gold Cobalt Green Deep PB 36
Mission Gold Yellow Ochre PY 43
Mission Gold Green Gold PY 150
Holbein Zinc White and Primary White Gouache
For the reds and oranges:
Daniel Smith Quinacridone Burnt Orange PO 48
Schmincke Potter’s Pink PR 233
Schmincke Mahogany Brown PBr 33
Mission Gold Yellow Ochre PY 42
For the Greys
Roman Szmal Aquarius PW6:1 (but it was too warm, so I added a cooler mixture)
Mixture of Daniel Smith Quinacridone Burnt Orange and Schmincke Delft Blue PB 60