Indoor birding with paper | Collage week 7

Adding a bird illustration to your collage always works because almost all birds are beautiful and magnificent in a certain way. And like with flowers, they are well-loved and appreciated by most I think. Except those that are afraid of birds, of which there are more people than you might think, and to those I apologize profusely (this post is not for you).

An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.

― Langston Hughes

In any case, let’s do some indoor birding today. This blog post contains collages number 43 to 49 made this year, as I continue creating in my series “365 collages in 2025”. I hope you like ’em.

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.

― C. S. Lewis

I have several nature books on different species in my stash, ready to be cut up. But I do find it hard to glue down, say a moose, a hare, or a buffalo, as my focal point. Any animal rather than a random bird feels weird to me. I just don’t feel like a moose would have any specific meaning to me personally, but any bird is beautiful within itself. Birds also carry meaning in that they are symbols of freedom. Plus they can fly, they are free, they soar above us (most of the time) and their song is the sound of nature. Feathers are symbols of lightness and beauty, and so on. But if I ever use up all my bird images I might have to look into using other animals too. How about a collage featuring a rat, a beetle or a kangaroo? I just feel that those animals asks for humor and wit rather than… serenity and beauty? I’d love to know your thoughts on the matter at hand.

Not that I ran out of birds, but my last three collages are “back to flowers” though.

Just as the bird sings or the butterfly soars, because it is his natural characteristic, so the artist works.

― Alma Gluck

Thank you so much for clicking over, taking a look and leaving me a comment below telling me which of these collages you like best – and why you like it.

About this project: I am making one collage for each day of the year in 2025 and blogging seven at a time each week here. I have created 365 artworks in a year thrice before so I am hopeful that I can do it again. Please also check out week 7 2013 (loads of sepia and off-white) and week 7 2018 (snow in March) – and leave me a comment if you find a new favorites along the way. I’d love to know which of these you like best – and why you like it. Thanks for helping me finish this by cheering me on. I appreciate you being here.
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365 collages in 2025 | previously week 6 | this is week 7 | next up week 8

All art created by hand by iHanna. Copyright Hanna Andersson. All rights reserved. AI FUCK OF