Discovering birdsong

by Warren

For the last few weeks I have been finding recordings of the songs of the ten birds online, and doing a lot of listening and sketching. These sketches have informed the final visual birdsong studies that I have put together. I have created three for each bird; some reflect repeating phrases, and some vary, just like the songs of the birds.

A phrase of the Goldcrest's song.

For example, in the studies for the Goldcrest's song, "reading" left to right, you can clearly see the repetitive melody and the increase in volume in the marks I have made. A flourish at the end of the painting describes the end of the phrase.

As an artist with a strong interest in the connections between sound and visuals, I have really enjoyed putting these together. I'm looking forward to seeing other people's interpretations of the songs in our workshop on 22nd October!