Artist’s Description

One for Sorrow, Two for Joy is an oil painting of two magpie birds on an abstract background. It is 30x30x1.5 inches. The title refers to an old English folklore rhyme about magpies which I liked as a child. It was inspired by recognising just how beautiful these birds are, having originally spotted these two in a bluebell wood. The background is a colourful abstract, art nouveau style made up of various layers and glazes to make it suggestive of woodland and trees. I like how the iridescent blues, purples and greens of a magpie’s feathers echo the colours of a spring woodland. Painted on deep edge canvas, blue edges, ready to hang and comes with certificate of authenticity.

Collector’s Insight

There is something quietly magical about this painting — the two magpies caught mid-flight, wings fanned wide, emerging from a shimmering cascade of colour that feels more like memory or feeling than literal forest. Gill Bustamante’s layered glazes build an art nouveau-inflected woodland that pulses with spring energy: soft golds, cool blues, bluebell purples, and the fresh greens of new growth. Against this luminous backdrop, the bold graphic contrast of the magpies’ black-and-white plumage becomes genuinely striking — and yet their iridescent feathers mirror the very colours surrounding them, as if the birds and the woodland are made of the same light.

The old English counting rhyme embedded in the title adds a layer of folk warmth and childhood memory that many viewers will feel immediately. One for sorrow, two for joy — and there is unmistakable joy here. This is a painting that rewards both immediate visual pleasure and quiet reflection, making it well suited to a living space where it can be lived with over time.

Ready to hang and arriving with a certificate of authenticity, this is a joyful, luminous work for collectors who love where the natural world meets expressive abstraction.

Materials & Presentation

• Oil on deep edge canvas with layered glazes
• Artwork size: 30 × 30 inches (approx. 76 × 76 cm)
• Canvas depth: 1.5 inches (approx. 3.8 cm)
• Blue painted edges
• Ready to hang
• Certificate of authenticity included