Natural History of Eye Birds is a mixed media by Douglas Fromm which was uploaded on July 20th, 2020.
Natural History of Eye Birds
This is a science fiction piece with a sub-title of “You Are What You Eat”. These birds consume a steady diet of eyeballs, and are slowly... more
Title
Natural History of Eye Birds
Artist
Douglas Fromm
Medium
Mixed Media - Collage On Paper
Description
This is a science fiction piece with a sub-title of “You Are What You Eat”. These birds consume a steady diet of eyeballs, and are slowly mutating into creatures with different eyes than their ancestors.
Years ago I bought this 2008 poster with the intention of using it as a background for a collage. It is a reproduction of a page from a 1800’s natural history book. The birds are quite well illustrated, but they were mounted on a simply drawn black and white branch, which annoyed me. I decided to enhance the branch with additional eyes and a lot of color. I inserted an eye into the page description to indicate the title chosen for my adaptation.
Selected by jury to be exhibited in the 36th Annual National Collage Show, 2020
Second Place in the FAA Collage Group Logo contest, October 2020
Honorable Mention in the FAA contest Of a Certain Age, February 2021
First Place in the Collage Group Logo contest, March 2021
Uploaded
July 20th, 2020
Comments (80)
Sherilyn Harper
Really fun tree full of birds with special eyes Douglas
Douglas Fromm replied:
Your compliments are always appreciated, Sherilyn…and thank you for sharing your portfolio….
Ali Bailey
This is so creative & cool! Eye love the detail & color :)
Douglas Fromm replied:
Thanks for your Cool comment….and for sharing your creativity and the beauty of your home state !…
Gary F Richards
Outstanding Natural History of Eye Birds composition, lighting, shading, color and artwork! F/L voted
Jolanta Anna Karolska
Now....what a brilliant idea this is!! I hope your eye is in there somewhere?? Your creativity has no boundaries, Douglas...looooove your work!! fav
Jeffery Spaid
Very cool, Douglas! 🌏
Douglas Fromm replied:
Your compliment is appreciated, Jeffery !.. and thanks for sharing your imaginative creativity ….
Lorena Cassady
Love your work and your sense of humor!
Douglas Fromm replied:
Thank you….I enjoy the eclectic variety of your unique and intriguing creations….
Donna Brown
Love your birds Doug. Awesome. Fav
Douglas Fromm replied:
I always appreciate your compliments, Donna… and keep sharing your photographs with the rest of us!…
Michael J Cooper
Well done Douglas, this really shows the importance of keeping an eye out on your surroundings! The cat on the bottom tells all. Mike
Douglas Fromm replied:
Thanks Mike…birds spend their entire lives watching out for predators, and we should also. By the way, you are the only visitor out of a thousand + to mention the cat hidden in the feathers - Good Eye !
Gary F Richards
Magnificent capture, lighting, shading and artwork! F/L …voted for this piece in the contest YOUR MOST AMAZING WORK 2
Renu S
This is brilliant and the story behind it of how it came to be is really inspirational. I liked the idea of 'You are what you eat' and how in ur imagination it visually manifests itself in the form of these birds. Like some omnipresent beings perched on an omnipresent tree! Faved
Bunny Clarke
It's eye-Bird (iBird) image. Gorgeous work and creation. Eating all the things to make for better seeing.
Maureen Herrera
Your work is simply wonderful. I too have started saving unused cutouts of pieces I thought would work for a particular piece and then decided (after like an hour of cutting it) that it didn't fit.....so I have trays, like shoebox lids etc for all these "extra" pieces. And I started a folder of "colors" as sometimes it's can be difficult to find big swaths of any particular color. I'm going to try your "starting point" technique one of these days. So much inspiration to use from your work!!!!!!
Douglas Fromm replied:
I still have all kinds of trays and lids to keep paper scraps and images. I used to use Manila folders to keep whole 8 1/2 by 11 inch magazine advertising pages that had a lot of one background color, but now I use 1 gallon size Ziplock bags from the Dollar store because I can see what is in them without labels.... Looking forward to seeing how your “starting point” technique turns out ! I got that idea from the collage artists of the 1920’s.... By the way, I am watching the national TV news now.....what a colossal snowstorm in Colorado !...hope that you stay safe and warm....
Nancy Graham
Nice intricate work. I too sometimes spend a lot of time looking for what I have or what I think I might need. Congratulations on your win!
Douglas Fromm replied:
Thank you for your insightful compliment !.....sometimes it takes hours to find the last few “perfect” scraps of paper to complete a work...
Maureen Herrera
Oh! I see that you started by using a poster....I've never thought about doing that. And wow, that would save a lot of time and composition decisions... Great idea.
Douglas Fromm replied:
I suppose it is mental laziness....It is easier for me to have a starting point , or seed, to start my imagination flowing to see where it will take me. I have always enjoyed “mutating” images just to see what happens . For every successful piece like this there are probably 3 or 4 duds, but I enjoy creating them even if I don’t like them and give up. Keep your mind moving !
Maureen Herrera
Congrats on your first place in the collage contest! Your piece is one of my favorites because of the vibrant colors. And birds are wonderful to watch and to learn about. It must have been quite difficult to find the appropriate colors and to layer the pieces for composing all the birds etc. And it must have taken a lot of patience and time! The flow of the composition is so natural.
Douglas Fromm replied:
An exceptional compliment !....patience is indeed a key. I have trays and shallow boxes for each group of colors, reds, yellows, oranges, greens, etc. If I think that a work needs more blue, for example, I sort thru the different shades of blues in the blue tray until I find the tint that looks best. Then I trim that scrap into smaller segments to spread that color around. On the this work I could sometimes get get 5 or 6 little focal points of color from a one square inch scrap. My theory is that our eyes see one color at a time for a very short time, and then focuses on another. For example, my eyes will follow the reds going up this branch and perhaps greens on the glance back down. Our brains process this all very quickly to see a multi colored branch instead of just a bunch of colored blobs....perhaps that makes sense ?
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