Chirp, chirp.

…an ode to the playful defiance of these songbirds – so many find their bird song irritating in the early summer mornings, but these creatures care not for the whims of humans, which is glorious in its own right…

The above image is my final submission for a college design class I am taking. From my required project description, describing my ~*~inspiration and process~*~…

I have a fondness for birds, particularly the silly brown sparrows and tiny-but-rotund chickadees that frequent Ohio backyards. While I adore the playfulness of these birds, wild birds symbolize freedom for many. I leaned into these ideas by adding the strip of sky and showcasing birds in a variety of situations – sitting alone or among others on tree branches, a tiny fledgling nearly asleep on a ledge, a chickadee dripping attitude staring at the viewer in the center of the circle cluster.

I chose to keep the colors simple, focusing on the grays, golds, beiges, and browns found among these songbirds, but also allowing the brilliant blue sky and greens of the trees to peek through as they do in the forest, the natural home of these creatures. I upped the saturation of several images, adding the soft light effect as appropriate, while desaturating several others to allows for a delightful contrast of the bright colors and softer grays. The strip of eyelet lace, often used with youthful fashion, adds another touch of playfulness to sparrows clustered on the branch, going about their day. Overall, the composition is bright, like a beautiful summer’s morning bathed in sunshine.

The birds of two artists I admire – Charley Harper, an Ohio artist known for his playful illustrations of Ohio wildlife, and the infamous birds of Kurt Halsey, an artist who was popular in many of the places
I would frequent online throughout the 2000s – can be found in the composition among the photography found online. Other than adjusting the shapes of this art, I allowed their work to shine as is.

Finally, I chose to add the words “chirp chirp” to the bottom corner as an ode to the playful defiance of these songbirds – so many find their bird song irritating in the early summer mornings, but these creatures care not for the whims of humans, which is glorious in its own right – they are simply living their lives as only they know how. However, there is evidence that these early tweets are the birds greeting each other, letting each other know they’ve survived another night. This idea, combined with Emily Dickinson’s famous words “hope is the thing with feathers,” is the sort of thing we need right now – that despite what might be happening around us, perhaps continuing to living our lives as only we know, and to check in with each other to make sure we’re okay (despite the circumstances), is the purest form of freedom.