Sunbathing (Barbary Dove) : Giclée Print 2 Limited Edition of 40 Print

Born in Armidale NSW in 1965, artist Frances McMahon has lived in Canberra for most of her life. Since the age of five she firmly decided that she was going to paint birds, and since then has had an undying and passionate obsession in capturing the beauty of our Australian native species. Frances is entirely self-taught and uses reference material of her own. She sold her first painting when she was fourteen, to renowned artist Paul Ashton Delprat, principal of the Julian Ashton Art School. Developed over many years, her self-taught technique consists of airbrushed (liquid acrylic) backgrounds, with the main work completed in watercolour and gouache. Using a minute brush, her elaborate paintings take between 30 and 230 hours to complete. The technique is time-consuming but straightforward: an initial pale wash is then worked many times over with tiny strokes of the brush, building up depth and form. Many of the details are so fine they may only be seen with a magnifying glass. Ensuring the longevity of her work, only the highest quality materials are used, including artist's quality lightfast paints and 2000gsm (8 ply) Rising museum board for the ground. This is an archival quality board, buffered against acid migration and deterioration, and contains no optical brighteners. All works are professionally framed to the highest conservation standards, using archival quality 100% cotton matting and museum glass, which cuts out most of the damaging ultra-violet rays. It also provides an astonishing clarity for viewing the work, whilst retaining anti-reflective properties. Her commissioned works hang in private collections in Australia, New York, Minnesota and Ontario, Canada. All original works come with a signed and dated Certificate of Authenticity. Frances has had her work featured in various art magazines and has won numerous awards. She was a finalist in the 2021 Holmes Prize for Excellence in Realistic Bird Art. Her original paintings are now represented by Aarwun Gallery, ACT, Australia exclusively.