The Fading Fairy

I chose to draw the fairy tern, a critically endangered beach-dwelling bird species because I was shocked by how little are left and wanted to raise awareness for this beautiful bird. In the painting, the mother is feeding her baby a small fish. This represents a mother’s love for her children, which shows their desire to protect the future generations. For the ground, I used a ball of paper and painted it then dabbed it onto the canvas to create a sandy texture. While painting, I looked away from the canvas and saw the clouds outside. The cool colours in the clouds inspired me to add shadows to the wings to create more depth. The fairy tern is in danger of extinction. Their camouflaged nests can accidentally get trampled by humans, while animals also attack them. This painting warns us to protect our beaches before it loses another flying friend.