Speaking of Kentucky (from a previous post,) I recently watched a video on John Audubon and it was in Kentucky that he decided he wanted to become a bird artist after owning a general store. He became interested in birds at the young age of 18 when he migrated from France to Mill Grove, Pa.. However, it was in Kentucky where he really began his career.
He and his wife Lucy landed in Louisville in 1807. There Audubon was a partner in a general store until 1810 when he relocated to Henderson, Ky.
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| http://parks.ky.gov/parks/recreationparks/john-james/history.aspx |
During this time while running the store with his business partner Ferdinand Rozier, Audubon would take walks in the woods and observe his feathered friends. This is discussed at the 6:40 mark in the video below.
After selling his interests in the store to Rozier, Audubon spent his next years travelling all over the U.S. drawing the Birds of America. He eventually settled in New York on the Hudson where he died in 1927.
Audubon also spent a lot time in London where he found a market for his drawings. Seems appropriate that I lay this Byrds’ video on you. It was supposedly a drug song but the members of the Byrds maintained that it was about their plane trip to London (click here.)