Linnet Original Gouache Painting on Paper

Original Gouache Painting

A study of a male linnet, an original gouache painting by Amanda Gosse.

The linnet, scientific name Linaria cannabina, is a small passerine finch native to Europe, western Asia, and parts of North Africa, noted for its melodic song. Adult males display a distinctive crimson flush on the crown and breast during the breeding season, contrasting with their otherwise streaked brown plumage, while females and juveniles lack this vivid coloration. The species is strongly associated with open countryside, favouring heathland, farmland edges, and scrub, where it forages primarily on the seeds of weeds and herbaceous plants, including dandelion, chickweed, and sorrel. Once widespread and abundant in the British Isles, the linnet has undergone significant population declines over the past half-century, largely attributed to agricultural intensification and the loss of weedy fallows, leading to its current classification as a Red List species of conservation concern in the United Kingdom. Social outside the breeding season, linnets often gather in large flocks, sometimes in association with other finch species, exhibiting a characteristic undulating flight pattern.
Did you know? The linnet was once highly prized as a cage bird in Britain, not only for its sweet, warbling song but also because it could be trained to mimic the notes of other species, a practice that contributed to local declines before wild bird trapping was outlawed.

Artwork Specifications

Gouache paint and colour pencil on high quality 300gsm watercolour paper.

A4 — 29.7 x 21 cm (11.7 x 8.3 inches).

Signed on the front. A certificate of authenticity will be provided with the artwork.

The painting will arrive unframed.
If you would like the painting framed, please add this frame to your order.

Limited edition fine art giclée prints of this artwork now available here.