Chaffinches are quite common in the UK, and I loved them instantly when I observed them during my first trip to England in 2012. It is simply a quirk of painting wildlife that even a fairly common subject can feel illusive, and such was the case with the Chaffinch. I have a backlog of hundreds of photos of these birds, but none that truly “spoke to me” until I made a conscious effort to capture Chaffinches in flight during my trip to the UK in 2024. Even when staked out by a bird feeder for hours at a time, getting good references of birds in flight isn‘t easy, but I eventually came away with a few usable shots, including the one that served as primary reference for this study.

It should be obvious to even the casual observer of my work- and certainly my wardrobe- that I adore the color pink, so the Chaffinch’s lovely pink breast was of course my focus. The Chaffinch’s plumage is an odd mix of peachy pink, rufus, grey blue, black, pale butter yellow, and a patch of green-gold just above the tail (not visible from this angle). When the male bird is in flight or glimpsed briefly, one gets the impression of a predominantly pink bird, so that splash of pink is what I sought to portray in this action painting.