Poise

Poise is shown as a concentrated form on a uniform black ground. The bird rests with its head folded into the body, removing the usual focus on the eye and placing emphasis on plumage, contour and colour. This closed pose gives the work its structure: the curve of the back, the hidden neck and the descending feathers all return attention to the centre of the form.

The background is spare and uninterrupted. It provides no horizon, setting or narrative detail, allowing the flamingo to function as a shaped field of colour against darkness. The strongest contrast sits between the black ground and the pale pink or white areas of feather. Deeper reds and violets sit inside the body, creating the impression of gaps, folds and layered plumage.

The palette is narrow but active. Rose, carmine, red, violet and small orange notes shift across the feathers, changing temperature and visual weight from one passage to another. The form is modelled through these colour changes more than through conventional light and shadow, so the body holds its volume without a detailed setting.

The surface keeps the process visible. Some strokes are broad and full; others narrow into sharper tips, following the direction of individual feathers. The compact scale makes each change of mark more apparent. Poise belongs to the animal works in which observation is joined with painterly construction, giving a quiet subject a firm visual presence.