It was one of the most gorgeous winter mornings of the year 2017. I could hear the sound of flowing water while I was near a water canal. When life doesn't treat you well, nature is your only refuge. 2017 has been a difficult year for me thus far, and as a result, I've been really dissatisfied with life. But my life took a turn when I experienced a marvel of nature; I was gazing at the lake when a startling golden flare drew my full attention. My gaze followed the yellow flash, which led me to the stunning and bright colored "GOLDEN ORIOLE" bird. I had never before seen such a beautiful bird in my neighbourhood. I instantly stopped caring about my life and began to pursue the yellow bird. I found the bird on other side of the canal, the bird was perched on a neem tree.
This bright yellow bird appeared in my life like an angel. When I heard the male golden oriole's melodic whistle, all of my stress vanished. I started my journey in the world of birds and nature on that day. I went home and did some research on the name of the yellow bird. The next morning, I learned about the "GOLDEN ORIOLE" and started going to the water canal every day to look for it. I learned about so many unique and stunning bird species while looking for an oriole.
I came to understand that many of us are unaware of the magnificent bird species that are all around us. Several of them require conservation. You need to get to know them in order to start coexisting peacefully with them by planting native trees, maintaining feeders, and getting to know them. But for that, people need to be conscious of the wildlife in their immediate surroundings. So I made the decision to put my abilities to work.
As an artist I decided to tackle this issue through art and on January 1st 2018 I started my miniature art project. I created my first paper bird artwork on January 1st 2018 and shared it on The Paper Ark’s social media platform with the basic information about the species, such as their name, what they eat, there habitat, where they live and so on. Initially it was 30 days series and people begun connecting to the series. They started coming up with their stories about how nature, birds, animals has inspired them in their life.
So after 30 days, I chose to continue my series for 1000 days because in the first 30 days only I explored a lot more species which I never knew. I gave my series a title and called it "1000 Feathers Project" . So from there on for every single day, without fail, I continued to create a new species and raise awareness about them. After the first year I included animals and other living beings also in my series. It was really an encouraging and life changing series but with that it was a difficult assignment also because I had to work on it no matter what I am experiencing in life be it emotional discomfort or terrible weather or any other life circumstances, I kept going without fail for 1000 days. On 26th September 2020 the "1000 Feathers Project" concluded.
So this is how Golden Oriole inspired not only my series but also the rest of my life and to honour this beautiful bird I made him the identity of my artistic venture
"The Paper Ark". I am a wildlife artist today specialised in bird art and I continue to create various artworks and work on different series with a focus on nature and its magnificent creatures. I shall describe my artworks and artistic style more in my upcoming blogs.
I appreciate you reading my tale. The only advice I have for you is to be aware of your surroundings and the natural world, and to work to protect species that is valuable.