Bird in A Boat

On the prow of a small boat in the middle of a wild sea… a tern pauses for rest. The empty boat is an island for his thoughts to occupy while the elements swirl around him.  

The wind gusts and rushes with no apparent reason or pattern. The clouds and mist fly across the white sky.

Above it all, the imaginative moon stalls transfixed yet untethered.

The empty boat, once so full of ambiguous promises still seems to wait. Wait for what? Terns fly from pole to pole and from sunrise to sunrise. The bird is always fatigued and always ready to go.

The Tern gathers strength and solace imagining that this moon, even, this benevolent and sly orb, sends a few beams (of uncertain vintage) his way and dimly lights his gay and urgent flight.

This painting is from my sketchbook. It was finished on June 4th. I lump it into my series of paintings and drawings about Owl and Tern.

Birds of a Feather

I do these drawings very quickly: put some watercolor down on my sketchbook page (The page size is 5 1/4 x 8 1/2 inches). I then draw the bird or whatever I draw with a ballpoint pen. Once the paint dries a bit, I use a crayon to add texture by rubbing something (corrugated cardboard, a clam shell, a drafting template, some wire…). That's it but already I see certain dynamics at work:

- on some, the idea just charges out, right out of the gate

- others involve artistic noodling before some mark suggests a concept

- some are about human emotional or psychological concepts

- a few are kind of about birds!

I suppose, if you care, you might find other things going on or things that aren't going on that I remain oblivious to. Such is life!

checking things out

a parade

Chicken Little

bird songs

star pretzels

lunch time

show off

terrified

something about global warming

turkey family

offsetting one's neuroses

a trip to the Mall

How'd you get in that hole?

Contraptions

Dictionary

contraption |kənˈtrap sh ən|noun:   a machine or device that appears strange or unnecessarily complicated, and often badly made or unsafe.

ORIGIN: early 19th cent.; perhaps from contrive (on the pattern of pairs such as conceive, conception), by association with trap 1.

Thesaurus

contraption noun "he's driving around the yard in another one of his wild contraptions" device, gadget, apparatus, machine, appliance, mechanism, invention, contrivance; informal gizmo, widget, doohickey.

A Starry Night

03-04-12

mixed media on paper

© Rob Dunlavey

"The tern, owl, stork, and bear walked (and flapped) all night. The glow of the silver moon caught the dry stalks of the dune grasses and countless unblinking stars observed their slow progress. They were like the Magi following the Star only here, this night, there were too many stars and each animal followed several of their own choosing and never told the others. But by dawn, the stars gave center stage to just one that was steadily on its own journey rising in the East. It was another day."

text and images © 2012 Rob Dunlavey

Prosaic Alchemy

5:00 a.m. Thursday morning

Alligators everywhere

I've been seeing a lot of alligators lately!

This ceramic fellow is by Lison and I spotted him here. I think he looks friendly
(but I'm glad I'm not a meal worm or a short-trunked baby elephant!)

© liliféfé 2010

This genial Mama Crocodile is by Maral

© Maral Sassouni 2010

By far, pride of place must go to the prolific French croco-designer and alli-strator Alain Lachartre of Vue sur la ville & Miter Brown. I copied this image from his facebook gallery. In this secret place reside a great many bizarre and wonderful crocodile confections.
© Alain Lachartre 2010

An alarming number of alligators and crocodiles have appeared much closer to home and they appear to have settled in for a long stay. If you can't beat them, I say: join them!

hungry for colors

chance encounter

Just the tip of the iceberg!
Bonne journée!