Category: iPad Paintings
Young ‘Un
Free-play Jay
Preen
A little under the weather today after my second vaccination yesterday…but so grateful. And a preening goose makes me feel a lot better.
Take a Bow
After a week of the elegant blackbird, I have returned to the silly goose… who is quite elegant, too.
Landing
Blackbird V
Blackbird IV
Blackbird II
My collaborator has gone home, and I’m back on my own. I should title this “Black Bird Feeling Blue.”
Western Tanager Collaboration
Another collaboration with my 7-year-old grandson, PJ. I provided an outline and then he provided everything that makes it art — the colors (including for the background) and the handling of strokes. I LOVE this!
Blackbird
PJ’s Imaginary Bird
“I just love imaginary birds, don’t you, TreeMa?”
“I do!”
“I’m going to draw one by myself.”
“Oh, that’s a great idea.”
And so the prodigy surpasses the teacher… such an old story. Sigh. And delight!
Another collaboration — PJ and TJ
He is very French, don’t you think, with his little red beret?
Artists Collaborate!
My seven-year-old grandson PJ loves cranes and asked if we could draw one together. This is my favorite bird yet! And I love that he designed his own chop. I asked him what it meant. He said “bird artist.” My chop represents the sounds of the syllables of my last name. The top kanji translates as purification; the bottom one as dawn. Kimono artists we met in Kyoto over 25 years ago chose these kanji for me. Many Japanese words can sound phonetically close to a syllable of a Western name, so the particular ideographs chosen have significance. I love these for a daily practice, where every day is a new start.
Strange Bird
Redwing
Blackbird
After a week indulging in the bejeweled precision of hummingbirds, I want the seduction of wild shape… Blackbirds!
Landing
The Dance
Territorial
Hummingbird IV
Hummingbird III
Hummingbird II
Little One…
I’m not done with cranes yet,.. not at all. But I’m taking a break from some of the biggest birds in the world to focus on some of the smallest.
Courting
Reminds me of adolescence…
Heading Out
Gratitude
Hunger
Baryshnikov Crane
Red Crowned Cranes II
I’m in love with these sacred birds of Japan…
Dancing for love…
Red-Crowned Cranes
These winter-y red-crested cranes, a sacred bird of Japan, are subdued after yesterday’s peacock, but I love their dignity and peacefulness.
The 100th bird…
100 birds in 100 days. I’m loving this practice, which feels very free, very experimental. I never know what a particular bird will ask for. I started this peacock today (it just seemed the right bird for Day 100) and something about the initial drawing in turquoise pencil took me back to my grandmother’s apartment with her cloisonné ashtrays. Cloisonné was the last thing on my mind when I woke up this morning …
Plumpster II
I’m so in love with this little guy that I simply had to do a second version. He was such a little fellow in such a big storm, plumped against the cold but unruffled — intrepid, birdly, brave. So here is Plumpster II …
Plumpster
As a rule, I don’t draw from other people’s photographs (though I shamelessly plunder wildlife videos). But when my friend Andrea Carlisle posted a photograph of a varied thrush that had landed on her deck after the recent snowstorm in Portland, I fell in love and couldn’t help myself. This one’s for you, dear friend. (Plumpster is Andrea’s word, and I love that, too.)
Loon
This bird is a birthday wish for my beloved sister-in-law Carolyn, who we all call Loon…
Landing…
Splashdown
Weather Coming In
Bird’s Eye View II
Whooper Swan
Bird’s Eye View
Heron in a Dream
Blue
Overhead
Walking home from the studio tonight a flock of Canadian geese flew overhead so low I could see the buff of their bellies and hear the synchronous swoosh of their wings. Such things make me happy to be alive…