Thought I’d fill part of the void by putting a few more things up on my Etsy store. The Folded Flamingo was created for a lesson for a class I was teaching a few years ago, a repeat of one of my earlier watercolors.
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Category Archives: Bird
Sonnet Challenge #33
I haven’t posted a sonnet in a while. I was going to post one about hot flashes (seeing as I’ve been enjoying to the extent that I need to start laughing about it) but Andrew Eales’ post this morning reminded me about this sonnet:
Birdsong
It’s in man’s heart, because it’s in his head
to merge both words and music into song.
There’re places in our brains they both belong
together – feelings more than just what’s said.
But too, we wonder how that seed was sown
that made us lilt our words into a tune.
Was it the wolves a-howling at the moon
or cat’s meow, or buck’s loud rutting groan?
It’s much more likely that the sound above
that we sometimes call angels, were the trills
inspiring us to develop singing skills
to tell our stories, feelings, sadness, love.
Whatever was that singing that we heard
outside our souls? It was a little bird.
The end of a class
Over the winter I have been teaching an intermediate watercolor class at a gated community in La Quinta. I’ve done a number of exercises that have produced multiple paintings in a category that I don’t usually sell work in. Now that the classes are coming to an end, I have a set of perfectly good paintings in a box kicking around the bottom of the studio. So, Etsy time! Here are three paintings I put up this morning, ready to go to a new home for a reasonable price. $80!
Folded Flamingo
Teach’s Folded Flamingo.
Many years ago I went through a bird-painting phase. A couple of these have made great subjects for my Monday afternoon class. This Monday just past, I guided the group through creating a flamingo that had folded its long neck up so it could hide its beak in its wings. Here’s the group having completed their versions of Folded Flamingo.
Seven more Folded Flamingo
Another sonnet.
Sometimes it gets quiet at art fairs. There is often a bit of a lull around lunch time. If I’m sitting at the back of the booth at the desk, I’ll often use the time to work on my bucket list item of more Shakesperean sonnets than Shakespeare. Flagstaff was productive and I was able to write a sonnet each of the three days. I sometimes have to search around for inspiration, Saturday’s inspiration was the nest of sparrows within tweeting distance.
Sparrows
The sparrow has more color than you’d think
(but painters know burnt umber, wine, ecru)
and though they seem to flit off in a wink
the observer sees the little things they do.
Sometimes they’ll dust in patches of soft sand
and often in a puddle from the rain
with wriggling bodies, wings aflutter, and
the knowledge that they’ll soon feel fresh again.
The well-trained ear can spot each different call –
the black-throat’s glockenspiel and house’s cheep
the white-crowned sparrow’s sweet melodious trill
and common to them all, the young chick’s tweet.
So if you ever thought sparrows were plain
Take another look and listen, think again!
Another sonnet.
I’m still working on that bucket list of writing more Shakespearean sonnets than ‘The Bard’ himself, and sometimes a quieter hour at an art fair can be productive. Will had the opportunity to write about sparrow, but didn’t, though I don’t think he would ever have seen some of those mentioned, they just weren’t available there!
Sparrows
The sparrow has more color than you’d think
(but painters know burnt umber, wine, ecru)
and though they seem to flit off in a wink
the observer sees the little things they do.
Sometimes they’ll dust in patches of soft sand
and often in a puddle from the rain
with wriggling bodies, wings aflutter, and
the knowledge that they’ll soon feel fresh again.
The well-trained ear can spot each different call –
the black-throat’s glockenspiel and house’s cheep
the white-crowned sparrow’s sweet melodious trill
and common to them all, the young chick’s tweet.
So if you ever thought sparrows were plain,
Take another look and listen, think again!
Newer work #54
Some cultures, I believe, regard birds as virtual angels, hence the name for this painting.
#1223 Approaching Angels. Refractured watercolor on foamcore. 11×14 matted to fit 16×20″ frame. $195.
Newer Work #53
I loved the way I was able to make the clouds almost appear like birds flying in formation, so I echoed this in the foreground for this painting.
#1232 Rising together. Refractured watercolor, 11×14″ in mat to frame to 16×20″. $195
Newer Work #49
#1228 Morning Thermals. Mixed media on pine panel. 17″ diameter. $300
The inspiration for the shape cut and name of this painting came from my neighbor who flies a powered paraglider, and who explains the reason he usually flies around sunset. In the earlier parts of the day, different areas of land are heating up at different rates and exuding different warmths of air, creating undulating thermals. We all see birds soaring on the thermals – apparently it is not as easy as you think to do this, especially when your primary mechanism of staying aloft is a slice of parachute, which could luff and collapse under the wrong air temperature gradient.
Four more paintings available on Etsy
When I guide students through a painting at a paint-n-wine class, I am also painting to show them what to do – so I inevitably end up with a second copy of the painting we’re working from. So – thought I would make these available in my Etsy store. They’re all easily shipped, 16×20″ acrylics and ready to frame in a standard sized frame. And I get to work outside my usual subject area – such as this one that was a request of a possible subject from a repeat student.
#1208 Two Blue Birds. 16×20 acrylic on canvas panel. $150.
Skyscapes for the Soul - Jeni Bate 