Review: Audubon's Birds of America at Compton Varney

Last week I was very pleased to preview the new exhibition of John James Audubon’s ‘Birds of America’ at Compton Verney for two reasons:

• I've always wanted to see "Birds of America" 'for real' as opposed to images online - to see if it is as impressive as it's always appeared to me to be
• I'd never visited Compton Verney before mainly because of the queries about 'so exactly how do I get there?'

The overall exhibition is a critical examination of both the man and his artwork and its historical context.

My conclusion upfront is that this is the sort of exhibition that you might only get to see once in your lifetime. 

It's also a truly monumental book in more ways than one! Not only do you get to see the original hand coloured engravings but you also learn about the man. 

The presentation of both the artwork and associated information and relevant material - letters, books, manuscripts, photography, projections and films - is of a very high quality and my congratulations to those who conceived and created this exhibition.

This is a very impressive exhibition

So be sure to visit if birds and/or the art of natural history interests you. "The art of making money from a big project" is a subsidiary but also very interesting part of the exhibition.

This is therefore.....

A review of the exhibition - focusing on the different aspects I became aware of while visiting and viewing the exhibition

What is 'Birds of America'?

• The book
• The birds
• The artwork
• The exhibition

Who is John James Audubon?

• The man - who is John James Audubon
• The artist as businessman

PLUS the answer to the travel logistics issue!

and an extra exhibition about birds by Quentin Blake

But first.....

What is "Birds of America"? 

I'm going to focus on the first four themes in this section.

The Book

There are only 120 complete copies of "Birds of America" in existence. It is a landmark and truly monumental publication which is now very valuable. Most copies are in national collections or institutions and the rest are owned by very rich people. 

Private copies sell for millions of dollars. Below is the result of the sale of Lord Hesketh's copy in 2010. (Also see Audubon's Birds of America: The world's most expensive book | BBC)

A first-edition print of The Birds of America by ornithologist John James Audubon, was auctioned at Sotheby’s auction house in London, England on December 6, 2010, and sold for a record £7,321,250 ($13.8 million) price tag.

This exhibition is based on an incomplete copy owned by the National Museums Scotland. It's incomplete because the Museum unfortunately let the subscription lapse!

A complete copy includes 435 hand-coloured engravings based on the original watercolour paintings created by John James Audubon.

The Birds

Audubon aimed to paint every bird in America. Whether he achieved this or not depends on what is known about all the birds in America in the early 1800s when he was researching and painting.

At the time he managed to paint and produce engraved and hand-coloured prints for 435 different birds. There may have been more but his original watercolours have disappeared as have all but some 70 odd of the engraving plates.

What we do know is that some of the birds he painted are now extinct.

The Exhibition

Artwork at COP26

There's going to be artwork at the COP26 conference at the SEC in Glasgow. 

A lot of artists have been working on promoting a declaration from all countries which will help reduce fossil fuel emissions.

Explorers Against Extinction Exhibit at COP26

Secretary bird study by Alan Woollett
Faber Castell polychromos pencil, 27.5 cm x 39 cm

Explorers Against Extinction are exhibiting - and auctioning online - pieces from the Sketch for Survival and Focus for Survival collections in the Blue Zone of the SEC in Glasgow for the COP26 conference which runs from 31 October to 12 November.

It is a huge thrill to showcase the work of our contributors on the world’s biggest stage, and to reinforce the message of ‘Protect and Restore‘ through our art and photography collections. All 25 pieces being displayed feature endangered species or at-risk wild spaces.

Apparently there were: 

• over 7,000 applicants for exhibition space in the Blue Zone of the conference. 
• Just 14 official photographic exhibits, plus the Explorers Against Extinction Exhibit were selected for the c30,000 delegates expected to descend on Glasgow to enjoy.

Alan Woollett is a a professional wildlife/bird artist based in SE England, who was elected as the 2019 Master Artist at the 44th annual “Birds in Art” exhibition. He also teaches drawing in graphite and coloured pencils and has also published Bird Art  - about drawing birds in graphite and coloured pencil. 

The Secretary Bird is currently classified as an endangered species.

 

Eco works identified by the Art Newspaper

READ: Cop26: six eco works popping up in Glasgow (and beyond) for the UN Climate Change Conference | The Art Newspaper

These include:

Indestructible language, Mary Ellen Carroll 

RENDERING of the Glasgow installation 
indestructible language by Mary Ellen Carroll, MEC studios © 2021
Drone photo by Dougie Lindsay

indestructible language is a Monumental Red Neon Artwork which is visiting Glasgow to illuminate the Glasgow skyline during 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26). She is a conceptual artist who lives and works in New York City

Clean Power, #TogetherBand and Morag Myerscough

This collection features artwork by Morag Myerscough focusing on the three main renewable energy sources - Sun, Sea and Air - or our main campaign message, Clean Power

Hope Sculptures, Steuart Padwick

Three sculptures by UK designer Steuart Padwick are intended to be reminders to people living in cities of the "imperatives of the ongoing climate crisis"

• The Hope Sculpture, is a 23.5m-high structure towering over Clyde Gateway’s woodland park at Cuningar Loop. 
• A second sculpture, Beacon of Hope, is located at Glasgow Central Station 
• The Hope Triptych, is sited at the University of Strathclyde’s Rottenrow Gardens. 

He was also responsible for the Head Above Water piece located on the end of Gabriel's Pier  in London.

Salmon School, Joseph Rossano

School is an international traveling exhibition spearheaded and conceptualized by artist Joseph Rossano that casts light on the diminished state of global salmon and steelhead populations. The installation features a life-size school of mirrored salmon-like forms, sculpted from molten glass by concerned individuals from around the world, as well as first hand video accounts from renowned scientists, artists, and indigenous peoples.

School is inspired by the Skagit River, the fourth largest outflow to the Pacific Ocean in the continental United States, and its dwindling run of salmon and steelhead. Once numbering in the millions, the Skagit’s salmon stocks now number barely in the tens of thousands. Whereas the river's steelhead population, which once numbered in the tens of thousands, now numbers only in the hundreds.

​

City of Trees, Matthew Rosier

City of Trees is an installation and video series dedicated to Epping Forest’s ancient relationship with humans and London. It consists of three lifesize video projections of ancient oak, beech and hornbeam trees in Epping, alongside an original soundscape and musical composition for each. The immersive outdoor projections will be taking place at St Aldermary Church in the City of London from the 4 – 11 November.

Clarion, Bamber Hawes 

This is a 10ft-high polar bear sculpture made from bamboo, willow" and layers of tissue paper and called Clarion has been on a 306-mile tripacross the country, from Shropshire to Glasgow and to Cop26

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bamber Hawes (@bamberhawes)

Wild Turkey and John James Audubon

Turkeys are very much associated with Thanksgiving in America - and this image is offered with my good wishes to all my American friends on this their national day of giving thanks

Did you know that the very first bird in John James Audubon's very large Birds of America is a Wild Turkey?

Wild Turkey - Great American Cock, Male
hand coloured engraving
Plate 1 of Birds of America by John James Audubon

John James Audubon (1785-1851) was an American ornithologist and naturalist but he earned his reputation as an artist and the enormous paintings - reproduced via engravings.

''No one before him in America had looked at the woods and wildlife so closely, or recorded in such exhaustive detail what they had seen.''

His paintings/prints have an incredible sense of life. Audubon travelled widely to find all the birds in the book. Unlike other painters he did not work from preserved specimens. Instead he first shot the bird and then wired it up in a natural position to draw it for his watercolour painting.  However the sense of life in the bird suggests he must have keenly observed the birds first and made more sketches of their habits.

About Birds of America

Birds of America comprises 435 hand-coloured, life-size prints (click the link to see them all).  It is the largest and most beautiful illustrated bird book ever. 

• Originally intended to contain 400 plates, the work finally extended to an engraved title page and 435 aquatint plates, issued in 87 parts between 1827 and 1838.
• Each of the birds is portrayed life size
• Each plate measured around 39 by 26 inches (99 by 66 cm) - or just over three feet by just over two feet.
• these were sold on the basis of subscriptions - for five plates at a time of one large bird, one medium sized bird and 3 smaller birds
• Five volumes of accompanying text to these plates were published in Edinburgh and issued separately under the title ‘Ornithological Biography’ between 1831 and 1839.

The ‘double elephant folio’, as the edition became known, took its name from the double elephant paper on which it was printed, the largest size available (approx. 100cm x 67cm). To make the prints, Audubon’s original watercolour images were traced in reverse onto sheets of copper, and the lines etched into the metal using acid (the intaglio process). An aquatint was added to give a graded tonal effect. This was achieved by melting a fine resin dust onto the copper plate and exposing it again to the acid; the longer the immersion in the acid, the darker the tone. The images were then printed in black ink; watercolour was applied by hand to the finished prints by a team of colourists. Audubon's Birds of America | British Library

The original file of this Plate 1 engraving of the Wild turkey can be found in Wikimedia Commons - but be careful before you open the largest size as it's 99MB file!

The first 10 images of birds - including the Turkey - are from engraved plates created by William Home Lizars (1788-1859) an engraver based in Edinburgh. However after doing the first 10 plates - his colourists went on strike and Audubon had to engage another engraver. 

Robert Havell Jr. (25 November 1793 – 11 November 1878) of Reading became the principal engraver of the remainder of Audubon's Birds of America. His family of engravers were renowned as being among the foremost practitioners of aquatint. Havell subsequently moved to America and continued to practice as an engraver and aquatinter. When he died in 1878, he was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Tarrytown.

Last year, the National Audubon Society made John James Audubon’s seminal Birds of America available to the public in a downloadable digital library (signing up for their email list is a prerequisite).

About John James Audubon 

John James Audubon (1785 – 1851) was actually born Jean-Jacques Laforest Audubon in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) in the Caribbean. He was the illegitimate son of a French merchant and a French chambermaid, Jeanne Rabin who died when he was 6 months old.

• age 6 he was shipped to France to join his father
• his childhood was spent in France with his stepmother. Here he developed his talent for drawing and his love of the natural world
• he was sent to America when he was 28 years old to manage his father’s plantation, Mill Grove, in Philadelphia - but he much preferred studying and drawing birds to farming.
• Both the Wikipedia article and and an interesting article in the New York Times (Central Park's Winged Tenants, By Audubon By Wendy Moonan 2003) indicate how often he failed at various endeavours before he decided upon making his passion for drawing and painting birds into his 'great idea' and a 'a very big project'.
  

His plan was to to publish a book of life-size reproductions of all the birds of the ‘United States and its territories’.  The project - and the book The Birds of America thereafter absorbed Audubon’s attention for much of his life and its publication took nearly 12 years to complete.

The opposition of the scientific community in America to his work explains why he had to go to the UK to find engravers for his book.

Alan Woollett named Master Artist for 'Birds in Art' 2019

Alan Woollett

British coloured pencil artist Alan Woollett will be the 2019 Master Artist at the 44th annual “Birds in Art” exhibition at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in USA in the Autumn.  The annual exhibition is one of the premier international exhibitions of bird artwork - and attracts entrants from around the world.

Alan's name will be joining this list of Master Wildlife Artists previously honoured in this way.

Features of his artwork include:

• he's passionate about conveying the beauty of birds and the complexities and simplicity of these amazing creatures. 
• his artwork conveys the joys of observing, drawing, and appreciating nature.
• his compositions are always unusual. I find he has a way of revealing new ways of looking at birds or enabling you to notice something you've not noticed before
• his bird are often given a context which means they don't jump out at you but cleave to their camouflage
• he draws in graphite and/or coloured pencil - and has transitioned from graphite to coloured pencil over time

In terms of "Birds in Art"

Birds in Art is an international juried exhibition organized annually by the Woodson Art Museum.

• Alan demonstrated persistence and submitted artwork for the annual exhibition five times before he was successful in 2011 with a graphite work and attended the exhibition.

“When I initially scanned the galleries, I knew I’d have to step it up even more, if I hoped to return.”

• Woollett’s first colored-pencil work to be exhibited in “Birds in Art,” “Northern Mockingbird,” was acquired by the Woodson Art Museum in 2013, which he described as “a great feeling and an honor.” 

Northern Mockingbird by Alan Woollett

• Selected for inclusion in “Birds in Art” seven times, he travelled from England to Wausau, Wisconsin (inbetween Minnepolis and Lake Michigan) to attend the exhibition opening again in 2012 and 2015. 

“Seeing my work in the ‘Birds in Art’ exhibition alongside that of so many great artists never ceases to make me smile. It is really such an honor.”

The 2019 “Birds in Art” exhibition, on view September 7 through December 1, will feature

• a selection of Woollett’s artwork 
• more than 100 original paintings, sculptures, and graphics created within the last three years by artists from throughout the world. 
• The exhibition’s full-color catalogue, featuring an essay about the 2019 Master Artist, will be available for purchase in September at the Woodson Art Museum.

Submissions for the exhibition can still be made. The Online submission and postmark deadline  for entries is April 22, 2019. This is the prospectus for the exhibition.

About Alan Woollett

• Born in 1964 in Chatham, Kent, England, he now lives and works in Maidstone, Kent, England, with his wife, two children, and two springer spaniels.
• He became interested in birds while birdwatching in his back garden as a young boy. 
• His childhood drawing pursuits and an “I-Spy Birds” book given to him by his mother ingrained an interest that was to lie dormant until many years later. 
• He studied graphic design at the Kent Institute of Art and Design, now called the University for the Creative Arts. His two years as a student there “reignited my passion for art, drawing, and the natural world,” 
• In 1993 he received an OND, Ordinary National Diploma, in graphic design and illustration. 
• Since graduation he has concentrated on bird and wildlife art. 
• He further developed his skills drawing with graphite “whilst seriously harboring a desire to paint birds in watercolor,” he said. 
• A local naturalist and illustrator taught him how to use a paintbrush, and he focused on honing his painting skills during the next few years as a stay-at-home parent of his two children.
• Gradually, he transitioned to working in colored pencil, after initially using them to add fine details to his paintings and then using them more extensively to complete his drawings. 

“I had always felt much more comfortable with a pencil in hand than a paintbrush"

• In 2000, Alan won the prestigious, ‘Bird Artist of the Year’ award for the year 2000, which is awarded by Birdwatch Magazine, for his pencil drawing of a heron. 
• In 2016, he won the Earth’s Beautiful Creatures Award, 2016 at the “Wildlife Artist of the Year,” exhibition run by the David Shephard Foundation (see Wildlife Artist of the Year 2016 - The Awards).
• In 2017, his book “Bird Art,” was published by Search Press Limited. (See my blog post Review: Bird Art by Alan Woollett). 
• You can also read An interview with Alan Woollett on the Jackson's Art Blog, which followed publication of his book. 
• Alan - whose work also features in my book Sketching 365 - creates his art in his studio at the bottom of his garden at his home in Kent. 

Alan Woollett working in his studio in Maidstone

“I’m still taking in the fact that my work is deemed worthy of being exhibited alongside that of such esteemed and talented artists. It’s such a huge honor and one that has me still pinching myself most mornings when I sit to draw in my humble little studio.” 

Alan Woollett’s artwork has been featured in exhibitions throughout England, including 

• “National Exhibition of Wildlife Art” at the Gordale Garden Centre, Burton, South Wirral; 
• seasonal exhibitions at Francis Iles Galleries in Rochester, Kent; 
• Annual Exhibitions of the “United Kingdom Colored Pencil Society” at Menier Gallery in London. 

His awards include 

• Earth’s Beautiful Creatures Award, 2016, “Wildlife Artist of the Year,” from Mall Galleries in London (see the top photo) and 
• Bird Artist of the Year, 2000, by “Birdwatch Magazine.”

Alan does not have a website but does have a Facebook Page where you can see his artwork and contact him if interested in making a purchase. You can also follow him on Twitter @awoollett

He is also represented by the Francis Iles Gallery in Rochester in Kent - who take his artwork to Art Fairs in the UK.

Drawings by Alan Woollett at the Works on paper Fair in 2017

Review: Bird Art by Alan Woollett

a new book about drawing birds

If you want to learn how to draw birds - in graphite or coloured pencils - then 'Bird Art' a new book by renowned bird artist Alan Woollett, was designed for you!

One of the well known 'secrets' of wildlife art is that birds sell fast! Twitchers not only like to 'collect' birds via their binoculars, they also like to have birds on the walls in their homes.

This may well be the reason why more than a few artists have dedicated themselves to drawing and painting birds - and all the ones I know are also fabulous artists too! Most paint and a few draw.

One such bird artist - who draws in graphite and coloured pencil - is Alan Woollett. Alan wins awards for his bird art; has his drawings selected for international exhibitions of bird art; teaches internationally, and even manages to sell his drawings before he's even finished them. In other words, he knows a few things about how to draw birds!

(Follow him on Facebook at Alan Woollett Art - he doesn't have a website and on Twitter @awoollett)

Wildlife Artist of the Year - Earth's Beautiful Creatures Category Winner
Maribou Portrait by Alan Woollett ( Maidstone , Kent)
(coloured pencil on Fabriano Artistico)

Not the prettiest bird in the room - but very striking and caught my eye from the other side of the room. Wildlife Artist of the Year 2016 - The Awards

Alan has an amazing talent for making a very striking image. I suspect this talent has been hard won. He lives near Maidstone and trained at the Kent Institute of Art and Design and has been a professional artist for a long time. He's always focused on wildlife art and for the last few years has been drawing in his studio at the bottom of his garden.

Latterly he's also been writing his new book about how to draw birds. This is as much about Composition and Colour as it is about the overall approach from beginning to end that he uses and the stages of his drawing process.

"In essence I want to show you how my pictures are conceived" AW

UKCPS 2015 Annual Exhibition - R.K. Burt Paper Award for Best Still Life
Birds Nest Study by Alan Woollett
coloured pencil, 36cm x 27cm

What I like about the book

The John Busby Seabird Drawing Course & Bursaries

The Seabird Drawing Course was set up by the late John Busby and is an inspiring residency held in Scotland with access to the Bass Rock seabird colony.

This post is about:

• the nature of the course
• the bursaries offered by the Society of Wildlife Artists for those wanting to attend the course
• the SWLA annual exhibition - and a special offer to readers of this blog.

The John Busby Seabird Drawing Course

John Busby (author of the authoritative publication Drawing Birds and Looking at Birds) set up the seabird drawing course 25 years ago. It is an independent course and open to all.

It offers the opportunity to:

• work alongside c.20 established and enthusiastic artists and 
• get an insight into the diverse approaches that those artists have to working in the field.

Dates: The next week long course is to be held in June 2017
Venue: Seabird colonies around North Berwick and the Firth of Forth.
Course Leaders: The Course is typically led by members of the Society of Wildlife Artists which has lots of members who like drawing birds! In 2017, Course leaders Kittie Jones, Greg Poole, John Threlfall (author of Drawn to the Edge) & Darren Woodhead will be on hand to offer advice and guidance on drawing and painting in the field.

Gannet studies, Bass Rock, frm another wonderful Seabird Drawing Course, thanx 2 every1 4 makin it again so special! pic.twitter.com/jqUybSg5N1

— Darren Woodhead (@DarrenNWoodhead) 4 July 2016

An astounding day on Bass Rock drawing Gannets. An incredible experience pic.twitter.com/O8zkJXWQjM

— David Hunt (@DavidHuntArt) 29 June 2016

The course is run by Mark Boyd and you can to apply to go on the course independently please write to Mark on mark.boyd@zen.co.uk

This is a blog post by Bruce Pearson about this year's course which he attended in June

The SWLA Seabird Drawing Course Bursaries

Drawing by Evelina Flodstrom - Winner of the 2016 Bursary

The Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) also offer two or three bursaries each year - to emerging artists - for places on the Course.

• Applications for bursary places on the Seabird Drawing Course are now open. 
• This is a link to the SWLA seabird drawing bursary application form
• Applications close 30th September 2016.

Applications need to include evidence of previous artwork

• DO SEND images of recent artwork that demonstrate the ability to sketch from life  - including sketches and fieldwork (they don't have to be polished, finished works)
• DO NOT SEND Artwork copied from photos. This is considered to be of little relevance to the nature of the seabird drawing course.

What the bursary provides

The current bursary is £550 per person, divided as follows;

• Course fee (£330) (which is paid directly by SWLA).
• £220 - paid shortly before the course for use by the applicant e.g. boat trips (£30/trip, ranging from none to 3 or 4) and/or towards accommodation.

These are links to blog posts by past Bursary Winners saying what the course meant to them.

• Evelina Flodstrom – 2016
• Lara Scouller – 2015
• Becky Thorley-Fox – 2015
• Claire Williamson – 2015
• Ben Woodhams – 2014
• Kate Aughey – 2008
• Gareth Williams – 2007
• Martin Aveling – 2007
• Helen Bullard – 2006/2007
• Antonia Philips – 2004/2007
• Janet Robinson – 2005
• Celia Smith – 2005
• Chris Wallbank – 2005/2009
• Vicky White – 2003/2004
• Anna Kirk-Smith – 2002/2004
• Esther Tyson – 2002
• Camilla Le May – 1999/2000/2001
• Deborah Grice – 1997
• Rosanne Guille – 1997

Max Angus - The Seed Searchers

The Natural Eye: The Society of Wildlife Artists Annual Exhibition 

The Society of Wildlife Artists will be hosting The Natural Eye: The Society of Wildlife Artists Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries between 26 October to 6 November.  It will doubtless be including some of the artwork made as a result of the Seabird Drawing Course.

Readers of this blog can get free entry for two to the exhibition (normal price £6) if you mention this blog (the Making A Mark blog) at the Gallery Desk