Hope’s Starlings – Murmurations

This painting of starlings has been used as the cover art for the indie/folk album Murmurations. I created random effects with paint drying slowly under cellophane then worked back into this with deeper tones. I had several attempts at depicting this idea.  In the version above, the blocks of swaying rushes were formed by tensing the cellophane vertically in the lower section and the murmuration shapes came from pulling the upper part horizontally. I used wax resist on the murmuration to create granularity from beading of subsequent layers of drying paint. This painting is used on the inside cover of the album. In these first attempts, I had tried to paint in each bird individually, though this loses the sense of coordination of the flock.  Details from the painting below front the album insert and intersperse the lyrics. I have played Hope’s Starlings to and from work these last few days since singer songwriter Kate Sutherland sent me the albums.  This is an all female group, mostly singing unaccompanied or with gentle drum rhythm.  The sense of the album is of an ageless female spirituality rooted in the natural world.  It dragged out of my memory a similar use of pared down lyrics and minimal accompaniment to reach towards spiritual expression, albeit in a more overtly religious setting.

Swarm

First time in an evening class entitled Experimental Drawing.

Given charcoal and a big sheet of paper, I started to draw shapes inspired by murmurations of starlings.  However, the scale altered as I progressed.

Swarming gnats came to mind.

The phenomenology of instinct

Each unit instinctively follows simple rules of flight path in relation to the neighbouring units, resulting in remarkable and intensely beautiful patterns woven by flocks in the sky.  I have been experimenting in expressing this in a series of paintings.

I wonder what it feels like to be driven by instinct to flock in this way.  Do non-human animals feel emotions?  Do starlings feel something analogous to joy simply for flying in a group, rewarding them for acting according to their innate drives?

How would a sentient and self-aware animal describe such an instinct in itself?

Is this already an area of study, a school of philosophy or psychology?

Murmuration

I have periodically watched modest groups of starlings weaving spectacular skeins like smoke in the sky.  This painting is from a series of attempts to depict a really large murmuration dominating an entire landscape.  I used assorted photographs as sources.