I was inspired to paint a little sparrowhawk after seeing their larger cousin, the African goshawk at Kenya Bird of Prey Trust and then seeing its close relative and near-lookalike, the shrika on the website of KBOPT’s earlier incarnation, the Naivasha Owl Centre. I fell in love with the smoky grey head, soft gradation from grey to russet bars to white belly, and the doll-like facial features of this fierce little bird.

I loved the pose of Sax in flight and tried (not totally successfully) to capture that motion as if the bird had just alighted on a mossy forest tree limb.

I used the same techniques and approach that I had begun employing in my earlier bird and wildlife paintings, using a bloomed wet on wet background panel, bleeding color gradations wet into wet and using dry brush for extra texture. There is some gouache over-painting, which I typically am religious about avoiding it but this particular painting seemed to need it.