#birds of virginia

[jb-fotoz]

House Finch

[antiqueanimals]

Virginia Wildlife; vol. 32, no. 10. October, 1971. Illustration by John W. Taylor.

Internet Archive

[green-algae]

12/21/23, Frosty sunrise by the Potomac River in Northern Virginia

[campodefiori9]

Virginia bluebells flowers and Blue Jay.

Near greywacke arch, Central park.

[arthistoryanimalia]

#ThreeForThursday:

Tea Service in the Shape of Quails

Gujarat (formerly Baroda), India, 1920-30

Silver, gilded silver, ivory

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts display

“The British were not India's only patrons of elegant silver.

Native princes - always engaged in dynamic cultural interchanges with their British overlords - also commissioned silver of the highest quality. Such patronage was nowhere more prominent than in western India, where the rulers of the state of Kutch were champions of their silversmiths. These leaders ensured their region's silver became the best known of India's styles through sponsorship at international exhibitions, beginning with London's Great Exhibition of 1851. This stylishly whimsical tea service in the shape of richly feathered quails was produced by Oomersee Mawjee Jr., son of Kutch's most renowned master silversmith, after he shifted to the employ of another western Indian ruler, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda.”

[viewsofthecamera]

Osprey

[instantfestivallawyerathlete]

Great Blue Heron on Chincoteague Island. by Kevin B. Moore

[uwmspeccoll]

A Well-Chapeaued Feathursday

Birds in Hats!

Our graduate intern Olivia is currently preparing a major exhibition on the work  of wood engraver, illustrator, designer, letterpress printer, and fine press publisher Barry Moser. He is well known, at least in fine press and book enthusiast circles, for his distinctive engravings and exquisitely-designed limited editions from his Pennyroyal Press. The rest of the world, however, mainly knows him for his illustrations for children’s books, which are usually executed in watercolors. We hold many of Moser’s fine press publications, but only a few examples of his children’s books. The Curriculum Collection in our general library, however, holds quite a number of his children’s books, and we are borrowing a few to include in the exhibition.

We are especially tickled by Moser’s humorous paintings of anthropomorphized birds in hats for Virginia Hamilton’s collection of African American folktales, When Birds Could Talk & Bats Could Sing, published in 1996 by The Blue Sky Press, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc. The illustrations are a perfect accompaniment to this set of lively and entertaining jewels of American folklore.

Since the book was mostly designed by Moser, it bears an extensive colophon, usually reserved for fine press publications. This is why we know that the paintings were executed in transparent watercolor on handmade Barcham Green paper, the types are Sumner Stone’s Stone Serif Medium (1987) and Gudrun Zapf von Hesse’s Diotima Italic (1953), the color separations were made by Bright Lights, Ltd in Singapore, and the edition was printed and bound by Tien Wah Press in Singapore. Probably more information than any child would need to know, but we sure appreciate it.

View more posts on work by Barry Moser.

View more Feathursday posts.

[ariasahgal]

the bird serves me a greater dawn.

— aria

[geeklywhimsical]

State Griffin: West Virginia!

Cardinal (State Bird) + Black Bear (State Animal)

[birdblues]

Virginia Rail

[jb-fotoz]

Red-winged Blackbird (F)

[antiqueanimals]

Virginia Wildlife; vol. 38, no. 7. July, 1977.

Internet Archive

[green-algae]

7/6/23 - Local trail in Northern Virginia

[foma-creature]

little (person-sized) guys are GLOWING

Foma 100 on the RTS II with the Tele-Tessar again

[arthistoryanimalia]

More from VMFA visit:

1. Stirrup Vessel in the Form of a #Llama

Chavin (Peru), 500 BCE - 100 CE

Terracotta w/ polychrome slips

2. Stirrup Vessel in the Form of a #Duck

Moche (Peru), 200-500 CE

Terracotta w/ polychrome slips