Decades of observation and handling paint come together in Jim Turanchik’s paintings of North American birds.  His work has appeared in The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum’s “Birds in Art” and “Naturally Drawn” exhibitions, and his illustrations of birds and bird watchers embellished the pages of Bird Watcher’s Digest for over twenty years. His paintings have been exhibited in a variety of national venues and are esteemed by bird enthusiasts across the country. 

The painter’s artistic roots are in abstract expressionism. “That’s all about the quest for form,” Turanchik says, “marshaling the elements of design to make a meaningful statement.” His focus changed dramatically, however, after a close encounter with a Blackburnian Warbler.  “It was an epiphany.  Here was form-making at the deepest level, and the results were stunningly beautiful. The measure of success, more critically, was not a place on a museum wall, but a place in the biosphere. I decided at that moment I wanted to paint birds.”

From an aesthetic perspective, Jim says, birds make two very powerful visual statements, the most conspicuous of which is the beautiful symmetry of their plumage. “This speaks to us of the order in nature.”  Less easy to quantify, but just as impressive, is the sheer vitality expressed in a bird’s actions.  “This speaks to us of the exuberance of life itself.” Both of these qualities - vitality and beauty - are inseparably intertwined in birds, making them among the most compelling subject matters, both to observe and paint.

A graduate of Ohio State University, the artist lives in Columbus, Ohio.