Art Friday: Ian Davie

Artist: Ian Davie

British, lives in Wales

Feather Art using discarded feathers from the swan

English artist Ian Davie has a unique canvas for his artwork: discarded swan quills (swans are protected in Britian by the Crown). Using feathers collected during the birds' annual moult from a swannery near to his home (Snowdonia National Park, Wales), Ian has spent the past four years perfecting his craft.

After cleaning the often dirty quills and individually straightening them out with tweezers, Mr Davie, 47, then begins the arduous process of painting onto the swans discarded feathers. Prior to turning 40, Ian Davie had never painted a picture, but once he started he realised he was too bad at it! Davie uses a special acrylic paint that protects and coats the feather, and a specialised 000-size brush to fill in the finer details.