I get most pleasure from painting subjects that I feel a connection to and a perfect example is this recent painting of a beautiful pair of Ospreys who some would say reached celebrity status here in North Wales over recent years. Ospreys are rare birds who fly thousands of miles to the UK each year to breed and it caused great excitement locally when a pair (known as Blue 24 and HR7 from their darvic rings) chose to breed at Llyn Brenig in North Wales not far from where I live. The pair were hounded with bad luck sadly but everyone was hopeful of a more successful breeding season when they returned this year but it was not to be as both birds didn't make it back to Brenig. My partner Gary was privileged to photograph the birds under Schedule 1 license and I painted this memorial piece with some emotion from photographs that he took last year on their nest.. I do wonder whatever became of them. There is now a new osprey pair at Brenig but for some unknown and unfathomable reason someone took a chainsaw to the nest and chopped it down, destroying a precious and recently laid egg, and leaving this new pair unable to breed. We can only hope that they return to try again next year and we can enjoy having these beautiful birds breeding here again.