The story of the bird
No state in the nation holds a longer bird list than California. Six hundred and ninety-five species, last counted. Pacific coastline, Central Valley, the high Sierra, the Mojave. A bird for every one of them. This plate gathers the signature birds of California onto a single sheet, drawn in the Audubon tradition of close observation and honest colour: Yellow-billed Magpie, Island Scrub-Jay, California Condor, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, California Thrasher, and the California Quail.
At the centre sits the chaparral itself. Anna’s Hummingbird, the one hummingbird present the year round, its throat catching the light like wet garnet. Around it, the birds a Californian already knows by sight. The Western Bluebird of the foothill suburbs. The Mourning Dove on the wire. Steller’s Jay, deep blue and crested, working the mountain pines. The Brown Pelican gliding the surf line off the coast.
Then the hunters and the high circlers. Cooper’s Hawk, threading the garden after feeder birds. The Peregrine Falcon, returned to the coastal cities and nesting on their bridges and towers. The Turkey Vulture, riding thermals over the valleys on a wide black wing. Together they read as one place: California, from tideline to ridge.
The print
A single composite plate, composed and rendered as a museum-style study. Each bird is placed with the balance of a hand-drawn naturalist’s plate, set against a quiet ground so the colour and posture carry the eye. Rendered in a contemporary Audubon-inspired natural-history style, and built to hang as one considered piece.
Paper and finish
Prints are produced on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm, a heavyweight cotton museum paper with a soft matte surface and a faint grain that holds fine detail without glare. Framed editions arrive ready to hang behind glass in a clean Enhanced Matte frame, the artwork floated to sit square within the moulding.
Sizes
- A4, 21 x 29.7cm
- A3, 29.7 x 42cm
- A2, 42 x 59.4cm
Prints from $39. Framed from $109.
How to hang it
Give a composite plate room to breathe. Hang it at eye level on a plain wall, away from direct sun, where the cream ground can sit against the paint of the room. A2 anchors a hallway or a stair return on its own. A4 and A3 group well in a row of three, or beside a single-species plate of the bird you know best.
The whole state on one sheet. The quail in the brush, the pelican on the swell, the falcon over the city. California, hung on a wall.
Birds of California field guide: /state/california/
More California prints: /plates/state/california/
