Years ago I read a quote by a famous bird photographer that stuck in my mind. He proclaimed, “Pictures of birds singing are hard to make but easy to sell!” I don’t know if that can be extrapolated to paintings, but it is a great statement about the market for bird photography. Getting a photo of a bird at that brief instant is tough, but it does really make for a compelling image. As far as a painting goes, it isn’t any harder to render than the same bird with its mouth shut. I was lucky to get the reference photo of a singing bird at Magee Marsh in Ohio for this sketch.
Similarly, birds eating berries can make for beautiful photos. A Cedar Waxwing, American Robin or Gray Catbird gulping down a berry is a sure-fire winner. It’s funny—things that make for good bird photos would undoubtedly ruin a good portrait of a human. Take a photo of someone talking while eating and try selling that! Yeeechhh! It’s like watching a front-loading washing machine in motion—a distorted face with all sorts of nastiness sloshing around in a whirlpool of horror. I don’t think any human can pull off that look!
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