THE JOY OF BIRDS | Niki Butcher

South Florida © 1983

I came across this negative I took back in the 1980s, and was amazed at the number of birds all in one place! I haven’t seen birds in this quantity in a very long time. Today it is rare to see so many birds along the Tamiami Trail. I have painted it just for the memory of times past. And speaking of times past, it reminds me of a story Tom Gaskin told us: As we were talking with Tom, a very large flock of birds flew overhead. I said, “Wow, that’s a really large flock of birds!” Tom responded, “Naw. When I was young flocks were so big the sky would darken, and I’d grab my gun and not even aim and be able to shoot a bird for dinner!” I hand-painted this image just to remind all of us that this was once a common sight. It’s time we start paying attention to our environment. We are ALL connected to the earth and when it isn’t healthy, not only do animals disappear, but eventually we will too. The Art of Hand Painting Black and White Photographs Photographed with her film camera, Niki was able to scan the rediscovered negative and paint using Photoshop. Changing from the old-fashioned way of doing her art, to the new ‘fashion’ of using technology was challenging, but she’s enjoying getting back to her own personal expression. Archival Print Making Niki’s open edition gicleé artwork is printed on Sunset Bright Velvet Rag matte finish paper using eight archival inks. A state-of-the-art Epson Stylus Pro printer creates deep, rich dark values that hold subtle detail in the shadows as well as bright vivid colors that are truly tropical.