Looking toward the light

Dear Family and Friends,

I ruined a postcard by spilling some black paint on it. Oddly, the mistake spoke to me. I saw a tree silhouette, and here it is. I painted the sky and cut out the bird in tiny pieces from a scrap of cotton I painted long ago.  (In reality the black looks blacker.) I like it -- best mistake I made today!

Love,

k

Bird

4" x 6"

multi-media

Only in Miami: Remember those flamingos at the race track?

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Miami memories!

Here's a contour drawing of a flamingo. I colored it with Copic markers. 

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I flew above the sidewalk

Written last night:

Dear Friends,

Less than an hour ago I was flying low above the night sidewalk, screaming “Oh! Oh! Oh!” and Zing was stretching his leash in the opposite direction, while a man on a bike was entangled on Zing's leash between us. You know how you feel when you’re flying and think to yourself, “I wonder what I’m going to break when I land”? Well, luckily, nothing but a skinned elbow. I checked each of Zing’s legs, and he didn’t squeal in pain. The man on the bike was also fine. He  was going fast, didn’t ring his warning bell (that’s rarely done) when he saw me but not Zing. I think that in Sacramento it's not exactly illegal to ride a bike on the sidewalk.

I should walk with Zing close by my ankle but I don’t. I let him on a loose leash so he can wander in the grass. Patrice gave Zing! a blinking night-time leash for Christmas, but I wasn’t using it. After we got home, a little shaken, Zing! made me take him for another walk with the flashing leash. “There,” he said. “That’s better.” (Thanks, Patrice!)

Also today, I had fun drawing this back-to-school owl on a little notebook for Juliana. I love this bird. I actually drew it in Tallahassee, and copied it for her today.

Love,

k

Don't forget to fly

"There's always a moment when you don't like what you're making." 

Mom would say that when I was sewing a dress and I got sleepy and frustrated and wanted to toss it in the trash. 

It happens a lot still ... when I'm making anything!

At the beginning of this piece, the bird was the only thing I liked. I stuffed the whole thing in the closet. But the bird kept calling me. So I pulled him out and painted big flowers, and hated them, and more flowers and hated them (Who hates flowers??). Then painted everything black, then dark blue-purple, then .... you get the idea. Now I love it. Thanks, bird!

Don't forget to fly 

(last line in a poem by Al Young)

Mixed-media on board

14" x 18" 

Don't forget to fly

I did like this bird I painted. It’s part of a piece inspired by a line in a poem by Al Young.

Love,

k

Don’t forget to fly

Birds on the fly

Written last night:

Dear Friends,

Today was easy — I cooked all afternoon after going to the farmers market in the morning. Haven’t done that for a while. Cooked, that is. 

And on our walk I saw a bird. So I drew it. 

Love,

k

I’ve been drawing birds when I see them — on the fly — quickly, before they get away. These are from last week:

Eyes wide open: Wings

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

My Pinterest page on Wings

Drawing birds with charcoal

Tawny frogmouth owl

Owl

Osprey