Jonathan Soaring

Pastel on Mi Tientes Tex ($POA)

68 cm W x 88 cm H
I was obsessed with the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull during my youth and even named our son Fletcher after one of the characters in Richard Bach’s fable novella. The common Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae) is easily the most recognisable of all seagulls, although sadly it is also widely castigated as a voracious and persistent scavenger. The saying “Like a seagull on a hot chip” speaks of this characteristic. Their kleptoparasitic behaviour, and explosion in numbers since the 1950’s is due to the large quantities of food waste that Australians now produce. Their “natural diet” includes worms, fish, insects, and crustaceans. They are a clean and attractive bird and to see them soaring on the coastal breezes, like this one is doing, reminds us of how stunning they really are.