Birds, etc.
My sketchbook, files -- and favorite poems too -- have a recurring theme of wings: words, books, hope, bridges -- all in some way are wings. Lately I am looking at birds, and find them not so simple. Crowded at the feeder outside our kitchen window, they seem to sense when I'm on the other side of the glass with my sketchbook: Away they fly, before I can catch the curve of a tiny shoulder. (Birds do have shoulders, don't they?)
"I'm having trouble with bird legs," I said to Ana, who is in first grade. "I'm not sure where to put them."
"In the middle," she said, looking at me like how could I be so stupid.
Maybe after tonight I'll begin to get it. I'm going to a Jay Snodgrass (a poet artist) workshop on drawing birds at the Thomasville Center for the Arts.
Wings that inspire me:
Winged Victory of Samothrace (Nike)
Book with wings, Anselm Kiefer, Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth. Lead, tin and steel.
"Hope is the thing with feathers" -- Emily Dickinson
No comments:
Post a Comment