A mother coot and her chicks

Tunnicliffe was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire. After moving to Anglesey in 1947, he travelled extensively around Great Britain but always returned to the island. Tunnicliffe's work is typified by a degree of stylization, which the artist himself referred to as 'pattern'. He loved to surround the birds with foliage, balancing a naturalistic rendering with decorative treatment, often displaying the influence of oriental painting.