shelidonDecember 28, 2020Leave a Comment

On the fourth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

What is this fixation with birds? And why are they calling? On this topic, I encourage you to watch this performance, if you haven’t already. Anyway, here we are.

1. Hester Durkan

We’ve already seen her doves and hens, but her birds are definitely calling…

2. M Tuzon

Here he is. My favorite surreal artist of this season. He did the first 5 days and here’s his calling birds. At least they seem to be calling each other, instead of bothering you, which is a nice twist, but the first one seems very angry about something…

3. Iain Hamilton

You thought I wasn’t going to feature Ian Hamilton of Bewilderbeest? You were wrong. After his Very French Hens, here’s his Very Calling Birds. It’s not like all of them are calling: it’s more like a joint effort.

4. Muriel Clarke

White matt ceramics Christmas Tree decoration. She too did all 12 days, so we’ll see her again. Here’s her calling birds.

5. Jami Moss Wise

Do you remember her surrealist partridge with lurking cat? Here’s Moss Rose’s Art take on the Four Calling Birds theme. I think they’re stealing from the public line: someone should do something.

6. Carolina Buzio

Carolina from Germany also did cards for all 12 days and here’s her very festive Calling Birds.

I’ve decided to continue showing you beautiful stuff (or at least stuff I think it’s beautiful) even after Christmas, but instead of having monographic articles featuring single illustrators I’ll be grouping them with themes. As a theme I’m picking the Twelve Days of Christmas, a British carol I adore. If you never heard it (you’re clearly not Britsh) I suggest you take a look at this incredible performance.