Yellowhead

This is one of a set of 36 watercolours that were commissioned from Eileen Mayo as artwork for printed cards. The cards came free with packets of Gregg's jelly crystals, to be collected for pasting into albums. W. Gregg and Co. of Dunedin began producing these cards in 1963, with artwork by British illustrator Michael Coombe. In 1976, paintings for a new series, 'Rare and Endangered Birds of New Zealand', were commissioned from Mayo, who was then living in Dunedin and working part-time at Otago Museum. With the advantage of ready access to local collections and the expertise and knowledge of others, she brought to the task an innate passion for natural history.While naturalistic in style and highly detailed in execution, the watercolours feature Mayo's characteristic qualities of line and rhythm.