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| "Keeping the Lines of Communication Open" mixed media March 7, 2015 |
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| peace dove (detail) |
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| detail |
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| detail |
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| will you be my friend? |
Showing posts with label bird. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bird. Show all posts
Friday, March 20, 2015
Envoy
Monday, October 13, 2014
Imagined and Imaginary Birds
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| One white bird… |
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| One black bird… |
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| …and never the twain shall meet. How sad. mixed media Oct. 11, 2014 |
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| Today, a swan preening (I made a white blob and turned it into a swan. Magic!) crayon, acrylic, collage, watercolor Oct. 13, 2014 |
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| detail: decalcomania |
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014
Floating Flowers
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| Beneath the bowery bougainvillea, whose blossoms fell and were not reflected… 4/8/14 mixed media (watercolor, ink, colored pencil, crayon, tusche, collage) |
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| detail |
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Friday, July 19, 2013
The Perfect Nest!
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| This bird has found the perfect nest! (but we have to ask: is it an egg or a coconut) |
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| She is safe from everything and everyone. Just one bird and one duty. 07-15-13 collage, mixed media |
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| No sharks or eagles will molest her maternal perch. No nosy boobies will offer unsolicited advice. She does not fear the Deep! |
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| She doesn't fear the Unknown. The power of Nature and maternal instinct surges through her (I really hope it's not a coconut!). |
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Heat Wave
This seems like the right picture for these suddenly dogged days of summer. Boston is in the middle of a heat wave and each day everything bakes more and it takes longer to dispel the built-up warmth. The mornings are not much cooler than the evenings. It's an old story to be sure. Many of you already live in warm climates and this is what you call summer: you go to the movies or La Plage and drink beer and sangria. It's very nice actually.
But, on to my picture and my amusing discourse: Here's an old bird; a burden really. It rides on top of a shut-up cart that's tugged by a sturdy young tern under the shade of a spiky willow tree on the edge of a baked land.
Where are the going? It seems as if this is where they always are: surviving in some sort of shelter just shy of total disaster. But on they go over the rounded boulders in motion and static at the same time: like a good picture. Sit! Stay! Be here, in this exact spot --posing the same questions --forever, until we return and gaze upon this particular configuration of dramatic elements.
Where are we going when we go away from a picture? Has a pause button been activated? Or do the antagonists work out their narrative and simply wait for us to catch up? Can the illustrator make an entire story: Beginning, Middle and Satisfying End, out of one picture that proposes a simple relationship and a set of basic conditions?
I believe this is not possible and lazy. A painter could end his exploration with one painting or just a series of questions. The illustrator-author however must finish the story even if the characters are themselves unfinished. And this may be the real task of fiction and the secret ingredient we need to pursue: the characters have more stories to tell and this is just one of those strands. The characters must be interrogated mercilessly (and plied with beer and sangria!) So, I know it's boring perhaps and it may seem arbitrary but here is what happens to this pair of birds:
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| 1. This big bird cannot fly and Tern has sacrificed much to take it to a wiser bird (like the Wizard of Oz) to find a remedy. Of course, this is a flightless bird already and flying is a delusion. Enlightenment comes, gently and the two separate but remain fast friends who visit every year. |
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| 2. Along the way, they encounter other creatures and eventually with all striving to propel the cart and its mysterious contents, they reach the ocean and seaside resort with ice cream stands, umbrellas, cool surf and other similar animals to play with. The sun goes down and there is a fireworks display. But what was in the cart? Maybe just blankets to share throughout the cool nighttime. |
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| 3. Or maybe, as the Tern pulls the larger bird along, he tells it stories and with each story, the large burden becomes smaller and lighter. In the end they have climbed a high mountain and can enjoy the view. |
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| 4. They stay in the shade the entire way. They are thankful for the forest that skirts the desert. The trees supply fruit that they eat and at night they find shelter in the safe branches from lurking hungry foxes below. But why are they in the forest and what does this tell us about each character? The tern wants to see what a forest is like. The large bird is easily frightened of shadows and foxes and things that go bump in the night. They make it through the night and discover that home was always nearby. |
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| from my sketchbook: 06-25-13 watercolor, ink, charcoal, crayon © 2013 Rob Dunlavey |
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Comings and Goings
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| "There is No Void" 27 Feb, 2013 watercolor, collage |
Bonne journée mes amis!
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
A Nightingale
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| 10 Août 2012
"A poet is a nightingale who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds; his auditors are as men entranced by the melody of an unseen musician, who feel that they are moved and softened, yet know not whence or why.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley
("In Defense of Poetry")
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Friday, April 27, 2012
Goony Birds
Why are they so depressed, anxious and worried? I don't know. They don't answer their email!
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| Is he looking for something or does he think we can't see him? |
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| He wishes he brought a book |
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| doing nothing and he looks guilty. Why do I suddenly feel implicated too? Brilliant! |
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| waiting for something to come out… out of what??! |
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| could be body surfing? |
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