Paintings of starlings

The European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) has repeatedly inspired my painting.

I love these characterful birds for so many reasons. Firstly, they are, to my eyes, a beautiful shape and size. But they’re also brilliant singers and copy other birds and sounds. We’ve heard them do the call of red kites and blackbirds – even car alarms. And I adore their plumage – iridescent purples, blues, greens pinks with gorgeous yellow chevrons at the tip of each feather.

The Eynsham Murmuration

I was inspired to make more paintings of starlings in January 2023 when a flock of up to 30,000 birds unexpectedly came to roost in Eynsham, Oxfordshire, for 6 weeks. We went out to observe them night after night. They gathered in vast numbers at sunset to roost safely together. Their shape-shifting, as they swirled around above our heads to avoid the sparrowhawks and peregrine falcons, frequently made us gasp out loud. These amazing shapes are called murmurations. Their aerial antics were astonishing. For all those reasons, I paint starlings.

On the telly! The Eynsham Murmuration was big news. One evening ITV Meridian News sent a reporter and cameraman out to film it! Watch it here. (I’m the enthusiastic mad woman at 57 seconds in…)

A selection of my paintings of starlings

My first  phase painting starlings took place in 2015 and since them I have painted them in watercolour, gouache, drypoint, acrylic, and on the iPad. There are certain compositions I’ve made that I find so satisfying (flying in a group, perched on a reed) that I have returned to them time and time again as you’ll see as you scroll down this page.

Many of my original paintings have sold. But in most cases, I have digital files are available to buy for self-printing. Digital files enable you to make a one-off print in a size and format of your choice. Read how this works. It’s dead easy to do online. Please contact me if you would like to buy a digital file.

I also have packs of starlings greetings cards.
A pack of four is £9.50 including P&P to UK.

I hope you enjoy looking.

Up, up and  away! watercolour and gouache	AVAILABILITY Digital file for self-printing £27 20MG 3984 x 4448px 300dpi
Starling Skyfall gouache	AVAILABILITY Original painting £200 Digital file for self-printing £27 6MG 3643 x 2586px 180dpi
Eynsham murmuration watercolour	AVAILABILITY Digital file for self-printing £27 7MG 3660 x 3672px 180dpi
The sun, the moon and the starlings watercolour	AVAILABILITY Digital file for self-printing £27 5MG file 3264 x 2328px 180dpi
Otmoor sunset watercolour and drypoint	AVAILABILITY Original painting £155Digital file for self-printing £27 10MG 3448 x 4862 180dpi
The Night comes down watercolour and drypoint	AVAILABILITY Digital file for self-printing £27 10MG 3480 x 4848px 180dpi
All the colours of a starling watercolour and gouache	AVAILABILITY Digital file for self-printing £27 18MG 3984 x 4448px 300dpi
Flying colours acrylic on canvas	AVAILABILITY Digital file for self-printing £37 7MG 2688 x2700px 180dpi
Starlings in a storm watercolour	AVAILABILITY Digital file for self-printing £37 4MG 2220x2285px 180dpi
Murmuration acrylic on canvas	AVAILABILITY Digital file for self-printing £37 4MG 2396 x 2372px 180dpi
Murmuration at dusk iPad	AVAILABILITY Digital file for self-printing £37 8MG 3600 x 3600px 96dpi
Starling at sunset acrylic on canvas	Digital file for self-printing £37 details on request
Starlings at night drypoint, watercolour and inks	Digital file for self-printing £27 6MG 2658 x 3642px 300dpi
Murmuration at Otmoor watercolour	Digital file for self-printing £25 5MG 3264 x 2328px 180dpi

• Follow me on Facebook,  Insta, Mastodon or Twitter
  
• Browse around the whole gallery and see what else I’ve done
• Sign up to receive very occasional emails from me. My emails really are very occasional, so there’s no risk of ‘spam’. Promise!