Swallows at Dawn Painting by Lily Greenwood

Painting: Acrylic, Paper Collage, Ink, Pen, Varnish on Canvas.

Swallows gathering on the wires, evoking feelings of chatter and activity before a great journey. This canvas is a celebration of natural beauty, a wide open sky with the beautiful colours of a breaking dawn, blush pinks and burnt sienna.

The color palettes are designed to be vibrant and bold without being garish. Lily has developed a unique way of working, using reproductions of her own paintings as collage material. Here the birds are meticulously painted, reproduced, and cut, ready to use on the canvas. The background is painted with acrylics. The use of collage allows the freedom to play with the composition in a way which would otherwise be impossible, allowing quick changes until a design is settled upon. When the birds are fixed in place, washes of ink have been applied. Finally, a glossy varnish enhances color, adds protection, and offers an opulent shine.

Nature is common to all of Lily's work, however she would never claim to offer gritty realism. Lily describes it more like focusing on an aspect of its beauty and running with it, seeing where it can be taken. Simplicity is key, which to Lily means creating something which people can hopefully take some pleasure and enjoyment from.

The canvas is stretched on a deep edge wooden frame with painted sides. Included is a made to measure box/tray frame, which is easy to remove if preferred. The frame is finished with Littlefair's water based non-toxic water stain in English Oak. Ready to hang.

Please be aware that this canvas has a gloss finish, and some surface texture/relief as a result of the layered collage material and varnish. This has been portrayed as fully as possible through the additional photos.


Framed dimensions: 31.8 x 41.8 x 2 inches
Unframed dimensions: 30 x 40 x 1.5 inches