Snow Bunting takes centre stage in enchanting Oliver Heywood painting which comes up for auction next week

Handsome male Snow Bunting in breeding plumage

DURING his lifetime (1920-1992), Gloucestershire artist Oliver Heywood was perhaps somewhat under-appreciated.

As a result,  his landscape paintings command firm - but not spectacular - prices when they come up for sale.

Heywood, who had his home and studio near Stroud, was an ornithologist who often liked to incorporate birds into his work which he felt was the outlet for his "spiritual energy".

This is the case with two of a trio of his paintings which are due to be sold as a single Lot - number 200 - at an auction to be conducted by Dominic Winter at their sale room in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, on March 11.

One depicts perched Cormorants and Herrings Gulls in flight, while the other, more interesting study is of a male Snow Bunting in breeding plumage with Arctic Terns overhead.

The Lot is expected to fetch between £300 and £400.      

                                                                       

Herring Gulls in dancing flight over rock where Cormorants are perched