Springtime has long been a favorite subject of artists in all manner of disciplines. Paintings, songs, literature, and cinema – all seem to worship the vitality and exuberance of a world coming back to life after a season of death and frozen animation. In visual art, few images are so representative of this ideal than bird eggs. Bird egg art gives a glimpse into the process of rebirth that follows harsh winter, and the sign from nature that song and beauty will soon once again take over the natural world.
A series of bird egg art paintings called “Bird Studies” by California – born American artist Paula Scaletta juxtaposes bird eggs with adult songbirds and floral backgrounds, all powerful imagery of springtime and renewal. “Bird Study I,” “Bird Study II,” and “Bird Study III” all employ this theme, though to differing effects and variations in each print. “Bird Study II” has a particularly fine use of texture and composition, with the vertical arrangement of speckled bird eggs and the interposition of bird against graceful flower stems.
Julie Nightingale, a visual artist with a name especially befitting one in the field of bird egg art piece, contributes pieces such as “Bird’s Nest” and “Butterfly”. Both are absolutely stunning recreations of natural imagery that appear almost photorealistic in their delicate detail. The background is evocative of stained sketchbook paper, calling to mind the field journals and scientific sketches of bird enthusiasts such as John James Audubon and Charles Darwin whose work laid the foundation of modern ornithology and bird appreciation.
The “Bird Egg Study” series of illustrations by Vision Studio are perhaps the simplest examples of the style, but that is not to say they are lacking in appeal. They are, quite simply, arrangements of bird eggs faithfully rendered by the artist, but even so they are fascinating and visually beautiful. Perhaps the subject itself is just so charming that it needs no additional help from the artist!
