A Book of Birds: by Humphrey Ocean

by Humphrey Ocean RA

With a species to discover on every page, A Book of Birds is the perfect gift for any keen ornithologist, aspiring twitcher or dedicated listener to Tweet of the Day The London-based painter Humphrey Ocean (born 1951) has painted portraits of Paul McCartney and Philip Larkin, among many others. But alongside these prestigious commissions, he has always returned to drawing the simpler things in our “alluringly unnatural world,” as he puts it. The result is this idiosyncratic and charming collection of birds, all rendered in Ocean’s unique style.

As well as birdwatching around his home and studio in South London, Ocean regularly visits his sister, who is a nun in Nairobi and has loved birds all her life. There, he paints Kenyan birds such as the Eurasian bee-eater, the Bulbul and the Flycatcher that are “local, a bit like our garden birds so nothing overly exotic, but of course to me they are.” They join the familiar gulls, thrushes and tits of the gardens, parks and hedgerows of the UK in this beautifully produced collection.

Genres: Art

64 pages, Hardcover

Published January 28, 2020

Reviews

[اليازية خليفة · Rating 5 out of 5]

على الرغم من أن المؤلف/الرّسام لم يعتبر نفسه راصدًا للطيور، إلا أنه كذلك من دون شك.

الكتاب عبارة عن ٦٢ رسمة لطيور لاحظها الرسّام، طريقة رسمه الملونة البسيطة تُلفت النظر - فهرس الكتاب عبارة عن رقم صفحة واسم الطائر.

أحببته - لأنني أميل للطيور دائمًا.

[Paul Lehane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect gem of a book..it made me smile

[Martin McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful little book! With just a few strokes of the brush Humphrey Ocean captures the essential characters of lots of different birds of all shapes, sizes and colours. Amazing!