Elodie M. Richard
120 artworks by Elodie M. Richard (Selection)
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BIRD OF PEACE? (2023 - present) • 120 artworks
Elodie creates her illustrations on wet watercolor paper (white background) with needle point pen and high quality pure pigments. This technique is all about how the paint flows, disperses and settles on the paper. To Elodie the spontaneity and unpredictability of this medium, and how you control it, with years of art practice, is one of the reasons she loves it in the first place. She intentionally puts the all focus on the pigeons, her composition typically plays between positive and negative spaces. The needle point pen meets the brush and flow of watercolor. Watercolor pencils are also used to create visual texture on feathers work. The style is voluntarily more realistic, with a focus on facial expressions, especially the eyes as birds communicate a lot of their emotions through their gaze, eye blinking, feathers aspect, and body language.
Through their distribution and adaptations over millions of years, Pigeons can be found on every continent. And not only can they be found on every continent, but they seem to have adapted to every ecosystem — including those created or occupied by humans.
We domesticated the pigeon about 5,000 years ago. The pigeon really highlights how humans tend to only admire animals for which we have a use. We had a use for pigeons: We used them as food, we used them as precious messengers throughout our human history, and their stools as a fantastic fertilizer but also to create gun powder. Only recently (1950’s) we just let go of the animal we used to love. We assumed pigeons would just die out without us. But we’ve created niches in our cities that have been perfect for them. So they have continued to thrive. Now that we don’t have a use for them, we just disdain them. If not victims of animal cruelty, abused on the streets for their mere existence, pigeons are treated as disposable things through pigeon races and wedding/events pigeons/doves release.
Rock pigeons have a long and, as it turns out, complicated history with human beings. They deserve our kindness and maybe even a gold medal for their service to humanity.
Each painting of this special series relates their incredible stories of resilience, survival, but also tells a great deal of our special bond with those incredible, not so common birds.
Each artwork is available for order in Limited Series Art Prints of high quality, hand signed and numbered up to 300. Each artwork comes with the printable story of the bird represented. If interested in ordering a specific art print, please private message the artist for more details and how to proceed. A portion of the money earned on pigeon art sales is donated to pigeon rescue organizations.