The Golden Pheasant was a key bird I wanted to see in Sichuan. It call and sang constantly but in spite of its wonderful colour, only glimpses of it were achieved in the dense vegetation. While visiting the Bloedel Conservatory in Vancouver, I was delighted to find them there and spent hours watching and enjoying their amazing patterns and colour. Upon returning home, I happened to glance at a local auction and could not believe that there was a stuffed mount as one of the items. It graces my bookshelf now and inspired this painting.
The bird is so glamourous that it called for gold leaf as part of the this image .