A few more of my paintings

A few more of my paintings

Dr Nihal D Amarasekera

I am very grateful to Nihal who most willingly agreed to differ this post allowing me to publish the news on Zita before his -. Speedy

 Hummingbird

These chirpy little colourful birds were abundant in our garden in Gampaha where we had many nectar-rich flowers. They make a humming noise as they fly and are the only birds that can fly backwards. They have good colour vision and are attracted by red colour. But strangely they have no sense of smell. There are no hummingbirds in the UK or Europe

 

Goose

Ducks, geese and waterfowl belong to the same family and are distantly connected to Swans. They are found abundantly in the Americas, Europe and in the Indian subcontinent including Sri Lanka. Geese mate for life. They have a long history with humans, the Egyptians having domesticated them 5000 years ago catching them on nets on their migratory routes from Africa to Europe and Asia.

 

The Owl

Being a night bird, since ancient times, it has been surrounded by mystery, magic and myths.

During my childhood in Sri Lanka I’ve heard it said that the mournful sound it makes in the night is a bad omen and brings misfortune. Reportedly, the deaths of Julius and Augustus Caesar were foretold by an owl. But this did not prevent Lord Tennyson from paying homage to that handsome Prince of the night.

The Owl (1842) by Alfred Tennyson

When cats run home and light is come,

And dew is cold upon the ground,

And the far-off stream is dumb,

And the whirring sail goes round,

And the whirring sail goes round;

Alone and warming his five wits,

The white owl in the belfry sits.

 

When merry milkmaids click the latch,

And rarely smells the new-mown hay,

And the cock hath sung beneath the thatch

Twice or thrice his roundelay,

Twice or thrice his roundelay;

Alone and warming his five wits,

The white owl in the belfry sits.

 

Grasshopper

They belong to the most ancient group of chewing herbivorous insects dating back 250 million years. Swarms of them called locusts have caused famines since Biblical times. John Keats was a poet of the same generation as Byron and Shelley. His brilliance as a poet was recognised posthumously after he died of tuberculosis age 25. Even in his short life Keats felt a need to pay a courteous tribute to the humble grasshopper.

On the Grasshopper and Cricket BY JOHN KEATS

The Poetry of earth is never dead:   

  When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,   

  And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run   

From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;   

That is the Grasshopper’s—he takes the lead     

  In summer luxury,—he has never done   

  With his delights; for when tired out with fun   

He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.   

The poetry of earth is ceasing never:   

  On a lone winter evening, when the frost    

    Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills   

The Cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever,   

  And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,   

    The Grasshopper’s among some grassy hills.