What I Found in the Bird Nest

The Quiet Watcher

21.75" x 23"

Pastel

$450.00

We''ll get to the bird nest in a moment.  First, let's take a look at what is fresh off the easel this week.  This is my latest work in pastel and there's a bit of a story behind this painting.

 This barn stood in northwest Arkansas until recently.  It has since been taken down, but that's where art can preserve the beauty and memory of a place.  My sister Robyn's friend, Jennifer Brown, happened to capture this unique moment on camera with the cat in the hayloft at her neighbor's barn. 

 When I saw the picture, the cat with the dark background immediately resonated with me.  To me, it speaks of those moments we all so greatly need for stillness, for time as Robert Frost wrote..."to sit and stare as cows do." 

 All our technology is a wonderful tool, but remember you are a human being with the capacity for so much more than what you experience on the Internet.  And what happens when your soul is refreshed in those quiet places is invaluable.  Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, wrote:  "...people who are self-reflective----who take time out to pray or to meditate or have some way of being in nature regularly, who spend time being with themselves and have a rich interior life----are better able to pay full attention to other people."

Okay, now off to the bird nest thing!  Here is what I found on my walk yesterday afternoon:

What a prize, eh?!  This bird has a degree in design engineering!!  Okay, so you are wondering what I found in the nest?  Here goes:  as I was out walking in the local park here, I passed under a tree and saw this nest lying on the ground, apparently having been blown out in the thunderstorm during the night.  I picked it up and continued walking, but kept studying the structure of this little dwelling of twigs and straw.  The more I looked at it and reflected on what I was seeing, these metaphors emerged from the nest:

*Raw Materials - This bird used what was available and creatively built with the materials on hand.  The challenge I found was to look at what are available resources to me in skills and opportunities, to think outside the box.  Straw + twigs + beak = incubator for life!

*Limitations - This bird only had a beak to accomplish such a secure, tight dwelling for the eventual tiny tweeters that would live there.  How she managed to maneuver all those hundreds of little twigs, pieces of rope, straw, and mud into this sturdy nest is pure amazing!  I have more than a beak.  I have a variety of abilities with which to create, so what all could I accomplish with that!  I need to focus on possibilities with what I do have and not on my limitations.

*Craftsmanship - This bird built a sturdy structure, tightly-woven together to last the duration till little wings could take flight.  You have to really tug hard to pull it apart.  There are no substitutes found in short-cuts or sloppy work.  Jack Canfield said that how you do anything is how you do everything.  The whole  process, start to finish, needs to be stamped with excellence.


*Order - There is a timeline or progression for every endeavor.  This bird didn't start out with the soft straw you see in the middle.  It started out with the chunkier twigs and mud.  Then at the end comes the fine, soft straw.  I find in art that the first part of the process is the framework for all that follows.  Logical procedures must flow from the concept to sketches to first strokes all the way to final touches and evaluation.  You can't be haphazard in your approach.  Self-discipline and staying focused are critical to the overall success of a work.

Now that I've finished with this latest pastel work, I've got to play catch-up and head to Home Depot for lumber to build some frames.  My art studio supervisor Michelangelo says to be prepared to swim there because of all the rain we've been getting.  

Be brave and courageous!