Bog Myrtle & Peat

While trawling through the internet for black grouse related paraphenalia (as one does on a horrible Saturday afternoon), I happened to find this fantastic picture by the Scandinavian artist Bruno Liljefors. I have posted about Liljefors on this blog before and he did some fantastic black grouse artwork during his life, but something about the extremely realistic rendition of fur, feather and spruce gives this one a little something extra. The marten’s fuzzy tail, the beautiful markings on each of the greyhen’s feathers and the illusion of depth created by overlaying the branches on a dark, ambiguous background all make the whole thing leap off the page.

When I get a chance to have a proper root around online, I will dig up a print of this for the wall, because I’ve come back to it several times this afternoon and have been stunned by it every time.