Murmuration

Murmuration; huge groups of starlings that twist, turn, swoop and swirl across the sky in beautiful shape-shifting clouds.
The starting point for this image lies in the stark winter horizon line of trees. On my daily walk, I see this line change throughout the seasons. In winter, I am especially mesmerised and intrigued by the murmuration of starlings as they gather in preparation to roost in the trees.

There are no leaders within a murmuration as each bird is simply aware of its immediate neighbours and mimics body position and orientation.The results are complex wave events and overlapping patterns that change rapidly in density and shape. Mono-printing is an intuitive method of printing directly from an inked plate onto paper. This technique allowed the murmuration to evolve and flow through the frame as a contrasting element against the solid linocut tree line.