This is my piece for WORLD ANIMAL DAY Collaboration 2016 ! We had a small but fun collaboration and I chose the Turpial.

The Venezuelan Turpial (Icterus icterus) [TROUPIAL in English]is the national bird of Venezuela and one of about 25 or so species of New World orioles.Venezuelan Turpials are fairly large in size, with a long tail and a bulky bill. It has a black head and upper breast. The feathers on the front of the neck and upper breast stick outward, making an uneven boundary between the black and the orange of the bird’s lower breast and underside. The rest of the orange color is found on the upper and lower back, separated by the black shoulders.

I chose the Turpial as I am Venezuelan as well and grew up seeing it flying around and eating mangoes back at home and also I wanted to portray the vivid orange/burnt yellow colour of the Turpial against its black colour on my piece and translate these elements along the feathers and movement of them into the piece as well. More like an interpretation of the animal rather than a recreation of it. A McQueen [ as in the Fashion designer] twist on a Venezuelan treasury if you like.

Hope you all like it. It is a lot different from the others as in not sculpted but more like inspired by the beautiful bird!