This is a little piece I am making for the Audubon Auction. I read that Gerrie was doing this and it sounded like a great cause and right up my alley. You know how I love making birds. The deal is that you go into the Art Media Store and pick up one of those little 6" x 6" canvases and your work has to fit on it. Any medium. All the donated art will be sold at the fundraiser for $40 per piece. Gerrie is making a great crow, my usual bird of choice and I wanted to do something different.
Last fall when we were in Washington D.C. I took a photo of a beautiful bird and I posted it on the blog. I really like birds, but I don' know all that much about them. I got comments and emails about my photo. "It's a starling—we hate starlings!" OK, so everybody hates starlings. I still think it was a beautiful bird. So I decided to dig through my fabric stash and make an attempt at re-creating the colors and textures more or less. Very fun exercise.
This is just the start of this. More to come. Am I making something that will be unsaleable to bird lovers? Does everyone really hate starlings so much?
its beautiful keep going
ReplyDeleteI love birds too!
Kathie
Love your Starling. I have a very wild, wooded yard- we feed hundreds of birds everyday and I'm not sure why people hate starlings except that they come in large flocks and maybe eat up food for other birds. When the starlings migrate in our area you can hear them by the hundreds in the thicket outside. They do make quite a racket. It's a toss up who makes the most noise the starlings or the grackels.
ReplyDeleteThis time of year and again in the spring I get a workout bringing home 50lb bags of wild bird seed every 10 days or so. Thank goodness the goldfinches have already left or I would be dragging home more bags of thistle seed as well. Feeding birds in my yard is a muscle building effort!
I think the problem with starlings is that theyu are a non-native, crowding out the native song birds. Sort of like the purple loosestrife of birds. Beautiful, but problematic.
ReplyDeleteAs for goldfinches, around here (massachusetts) they never leave. They just change color so that they don't look like goldfinches anymore.
I love birds, too, and I think your starling is gonna turn out wonderfully. I'm not really sure why everybody seems to hate starlings... I do know that they aren't native to the U.S. and they are crowding out some native birds from what's left of their habitat (after we humans messed up most of it!). That might be part of it also. But most of the stories I hear about them seem to involve them invading your yard and feeders en masse and eating their heads off, chasing other birds away, etc. I have never had that happen, as I only ever saw about 4 of them last year, and none here at the new house. But they do eat a lot. (Surely, not any more than these greedy mourning doves do, though!) I suppose it must depend on what your personal experiences with the starlings happen to be, whether you like them or hate them.
ReplyDeleteYour starling is beautiful, keep creating, please. I am a bird lover and I must confess that I cringe when the Starlings come through. They are noisy, pushy at the feeders and messy but you have to admire thier plumage. All birds serve a purpose in the larger scheme of things, you make us appreciate one of the better parts of the starling!
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous starling. Such smart birds...just look at this ones classy dubs. I admire your use of fabric! I love birds, particularly crows...another clever bird..but starlings are easy to dislike being an introduced specie that THRIVES at the expense of some natives. Leaving that rant aside...I love what you've done.
ReplyDeleteAren't most of us just like those starlings??? Maybe people don't like them because they see so much of human nature in them. WE are introduced species that are noisy and pushy, often thriving at the expense of the natives and frequently taking more than our fair share...
ReplyDeleteYour birds are great - keep going. I enjoy seeing you use fabrics that I have in my stash. The directionals add so much interest, and the black and white breast fabric sparkles just like the bird does. Well done.
V
I loooove your starling, the colors and patterns are very clever, and really do look just like the birds.
ReplyDeleteBeyond feeders, the main reason starlings are so bad in the U.S. is that they compete for nest holes with natives like bluebirds. They are a much more aggressive species, so they out-compete bluebirds for nest holes, which is causing a decline in bluebirds nation-wide.
Ironically, starlings are declining in their native UK and Europe, so maybe we should package them all up and ship them back! As a birder, I can't stand them, but in all honesty, they're a good looking bird in breeding plumage. The iridescence of their feathers reminds me of bubbles :)
I'm sure many people will want to buy your starling. I would love to go to that fundraiser and see all the artwork.
ReplyDeleteYour starling looks nothing like the ones we have here. Ours are usually not as spotted. Yes, everyone hates starlings because they are not native birds (I live in Toronto). I never grew up with starlings so they have come within the last 30-40 years. Check wikipedia for a pic of a gorgeous orange, blue and purple startling.
ReplyDeleteI remember that Starlings were an anathema to my dad on our farm in upstate NY. But, I don't know why. We did not have the kind of crops that they eat - like blueberries. I think they nested in the barn and other outbuildings and made a mess.
ReplyDeleteForgot to say that your Starling is very pretty and he will sell right away!! Last year they made a mosaic of all the pieces which I think they posted on line. It was very cool.
ReplyDeleteYES hate them hate them hate them...still vividly remember the attack of starlings on the Robin hatchlings...very gruesome...they will eat the eggs and young of other birds, so it is not just the birdfeeder they attack.....
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your sale, you do do justice in capturing the beauty of birds.....
Starlings get a bad rap because they will lay eggs in other bird's nest and thrive, while the native birds fail. Farmers hate them because they will eat a crop in a few days (cherries, berries, etc.). That being said, I love your bird and really don't think you need to worry about is selling.
ReplyDelete$40 per piece!!! Can I send a ringer to the Audubon event?
ReplyDeleteI would love to own this.