I recently visited Costa Rica, a Central American country with the most biodiversity in the world.

Whilst part of this is due to the topography of the landscape and the climate it is also due to its resolute commitment to conservation.

This has not always been the case. Until the late 1980’s there was significant deforestation taking place in the country to provide pasture for cattle to provide beef for exportation.

However, the country became the first in the world to reverse deforestation using incentives to reward landowners for nurturing the forests.

In addition they have ensured that there are wildlife corridors linking habitats and man has learned to co exist with nature.

I’m sure, like everything, it is not perfect but Costa Rica has proved that it is possible to reverse nature depleting practices – something the rest of us need to look at, learn from and implement.

If you want to read more about how Costa Rica has achieved all this I recommend Biodiversity: Costa Rica’s Remarkable Journey by Greenpeace and How the world can learn from Costa Rica’s biodiversity effort by the Forward Lab

I have been inspired by the flora and fauna of Costa Rica and it has given me some hope that it may still be possible to reverse the damage that humankind is inflicting on the natural world.

The Dry Garden: Treasures from the University Herbarium

I recently visited Winterbourne House and Gardens in Birmingham as it is now home to the University of Birmingham Herbarium.  It is not accessible to the public but I made an appointment with the curator I have an idea for a future art project and I wanted to look at the ways the plants were displayed.

A herbarium is a collection of plant specimens that have been collected and preserved as a historical record for educational purposes. This collection is vast and the thing that surprised me most was that there was no standard way of preserving, presenting or annotating the specimens. I found this aspect fascinating.

For example, some leaves are folded over to be able to fit on the page whilst other specimens were mixed together to be presented very artistically. Sometimes the accompanying text was handwritten, sometimes it was typed. As random as it seems the information about each specimen seemed to be succinct and relevant.

There is currently an exhibition in the house called The Dry Garden showcasing a selection of from the herbarium and is a really good overview of the whole collection. As well as preserverd specimens there are photographs and prints as well as a history of the collaction and it’s benefactors.

One of my favourite collections is in a girl’s school book which features all the plants in her garden. It is simple but so charming, artistic and a snapshot in time.

If you are in Birmingham it is well worth a visit.  And there is a tearoom with tables on the patio overlooking the beautiful garden.

A murmuration is when huge flocks of starlings come together to form shape-shifting flight patterns at sunset before they roost for the night.

I am fascinated by murmurations but have never seen one, however last week I visted Brandon Marsh near Coventry to witness this incredible natural phenomenom where large groups of starlings take to the sky, swooping and swirling into spheres, planes and waves. It was mesmerising and I was transfixed by the beauty of seeing so many birds move together, seemingly as one.

A murmuration is named after the noise that is made by the many flapping wings of the starlings in flight. As they flew en masse overhead they made a low humming sound which added to the spectacle.

They gather in murmurations for a variety of reasons. Grouping together offers safety in numbers as predators like peregrine falcons find it hard to target one bird in amongst a hypnotising flock of thousands. The murmuration happens prior to roosting and they gather together to keep warm at night.

The starling murmurations happen during the winter months, roughly from October to March.

The peak in numbers is usually December to January when more birds come over from Europe and join our resident birds.

It really is something worth witnessing. Find out more about this phenomenon here.

Check out this interactive map to find a site near to you. If you see one I hope you enjoy seeing it as much as I did.

And I am thinking of how I can make art about it now!

I wanted to see this exhibition because these bird illustrations are world famous but I was completely unprepared for the controversy that surrounds Audubon.

The exhibition of Audubon’s Birds of America is based on an incomplete volume of the prints owned by The National Museum of Scotland. In addition to the prints there are letters, books, manuscripts, projections, films and artefacts – all of which come together to present a fascinating insight into this artist.

John James Audubon (1785- 1851) was an American self taught artist who wanted to make a name for himself. He decided to paint every bird in America. His unique selling point was that every bird was depicted life size.

He was highly critical of his contemporaries who used taxidermy specimens for their artwork. Instead he captured all of the birds that he painted. He kept some alive for a few days before they died or were killed. Others he killed immediately and then arranged them in poses using wire to hold out wings or to suspend them by their necks or feet. By contorting them like this he was able to paint them in a way that was not conventionally scientific and therefore appeared to be more appealing.

He was unsuccessful in finding financial backing to fulfill his project in America so he travelled to Scotland where he was met with enthusiasm and secured financial support from important investors.

This enabled him to employ the engravers William Lizars and Robert Havell to engrave his paintings onto large copper plates. Once printed, colour was applied by expert colourists.

Unlike the original paintings the prints were reproducible and he set up a subscription scheme whereby collectors could gradually collect all of the prints.

I visited the exhibition with Karen Parker of intersilient. The exhibition gave us so much to discuss.

We both wished the original paintings still existed, but I guess we’re not alone, it would be interesting to compare them to the very accomplished engravings.

We were not convinced his work was any better than his contemporaries.

Some parts of the pictures seemed very accomplished whilst other parts were less impressive, for example the dripping blood from prey animals seemed very stylized.

Several birds that were presented as different species were in fact later identified to be the same species but juveniles.

A bird that he named The Bird of Washington, appears to be a large species of eagle. No one else has ever seen this bird and that has now been revealed beyond reasonable doubt to be completely fabricated by him. We found that extraordinary.

Audubon claimed to be pro conservation but shot birds in vast numbers including the once plentiful passenger pigeons which are now extinct.

The curators of this exhibition did not shy away from presenting all the known facts about Audubon. It is difficult to separate the man from the work.

Audubon was involved in the slave trade, falsified scientific data, invented species, discredited his contemporaries and did not credit his collaborators.

As this has all come to light many societies associated with his name are today dissociating themselves from him.

I can understand that. Because of all the negative associations it is the sort of thing you can imagine that institutions may not be willing to exhibit. But I am glad that I saw this exhibition – a real insight. Catch it if you can.

This touring exhibition from National Museum of Scotland finishes at Compton Verney on 1st October.

Quentin Blake: Birds, Beasts and Explorers

Exhibition at Compton Verney, Warwickshire 27th May – 1st October

I visited this exhibition with Karen Parker from intersilient and we had a lot of fun and conversation over the 70 plus illustrations that were included in this exhibition.

Quentin Blake’s distinctive style is instantly recognisable – he has collaborated with many writers including Roald Dahl as well as illustrating and writing his own books.

His work is quirky and fun but I was particularly struck by a series of monochrome works exploring various modes of travel that had been created specifically for an exhibition called ‘The Only Way to Travel’ at Hastings Contemporary Gallery in East Sussex in 2017.

Pen, ink and watercolour on paper, these drawings showed travelers moving through vast, shadowy landscapes. Some of them were extremely poignant as they referenced the perilous journeys of migrants crossing the sea in small, crowded boats.

There is also a short film in which he explains his process and it is a fascinating insight into how he goes about his work. It was so good we watched it twice!

The exhibition is at Compton Verney until Sunday October 1^st 2023.

I’ve been experimenting making anthotypes since I first discovered the process during lockdown. It is an old photographic process that uses photosensitive material from plants to create an image and was invented in 1842 by Mary Somerville, a Scottish scientist and polymath.

An emulsion is made from any part of a plant – berries, petals and /or leaves ground up and mixed with a little water and alcohol such as vodka .

The emulsion is then painted onto watercolour paper and left to dry in a dark room.

Objects or positive images are placed on top and left outside in the sun for days, weeks or months depending on the intensity of the sun and the photosensitivity of the particular plant used.

This is an image I made using an emulsion of silver birch tree leaves and a diagram of a human heart. Silver birch produces salicylic acid which is said to help prevent heart attacks and strokes.

If you want to have a go you can find step by step instructions from this wonderful website

https://www.alternativephotography.com/anthotypes-anthotype-process/