From the series of images, Ornitographies by Xavi Bou (visit the website here…) www.xavibou.com (many thanks to Xavi Bou for permission to use the photo here)
Imagine if you could see the patterns made by birds as they swoop in unison, drawing on the canvas of the sky. I’d never heard of the artist, but one of the wonderful volunteers who stayed with us on the farm a few years ago sent a link to an article in National Geographic about the artist/photographer and wow – how cool!
Dad, of course, was immediately intrigued and asked if I had seen the images as they relate so well to what we’ve been talking about in our ongoing lines and patterns discussions…
Birds in the Clouds by Georges Braque, 1960
So many artists have explored the image of birds in flight it’s hard to know where to start with examples.
Twelve Birds by M. C. Escher, 1948
Line, pattern, repeating shapes, and negative space all fuse in this work by M. C. Escher.
Lucian Freud takes a different approach in Landscape with Birds (1940)
Da Vinci tried to freeze the movement of birds with the naked eye…
Drawings of a bird in flight by Leonardo da Vinci (1500s)
Leonardo had an ulterior motive, I think – hoping to learn how to fly himself. The challenge kept him busy for years…
As for me, I’ve been having enough trouble trying to draw things like a coffee cup sitting on the table in front of me and that, so far, is more than challenging enough!
For the moment, I’m happy to enjoy the work of others when it comes to this subject, but perhaps at some point, I’ll take up the challenge and try to capture movement in the ethereal form of birds in flight…
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