photo: a recent embroidery portrait brooch
I am a little gruff, but much better. Son has bounced back to health, thankfully….. The past several days have been a strange blur. I attempted to share sketchbook posts on Instagram but so few people are seeing my posts lately, it really is a shame. However, I won’t be maudlin! And I won’t give up on you:) I want to stay connected and so, thankfully, here we are….. thank you for continuing to read here and I hope you enjoy these notes.
*
This week I thought I would share some ideas on birds in my own art. There is much to say and this just scratches the surface a little…..
The subject of birds in art history would take up a large (and I can imagine exquisite) book. Oh my, I am sure there are several of these books in existence and as soon as I finish typing this up I will take a look and let you know. Or maybe you know of one?
photo: a still life painting from 2013
I often include birds in my artwork. They appear as small creatures in hand as hopeful signs and portents, often, stitched or painted. They appear as lively motifs on still life vessels. Occasionally they are the main subject and get to show off a little personality.
Here is a poem I wrote considering this:
THE BIRDS ARE LAUGHING
The birds are laughing far away as they fly.
They are yet undecided if they might return to us,
it is not for them to decide this for now.
They simply pull together, loose a feather,
ease off and glide near the sun.
They are the tiniest brush marks but essential -
without them a painting cannot exist as a whole living creature.
For the birds know they must make their appearances
and disappearances, even if only as a single feather.
A bird is a fragment of pain made merry with legs.
A bird is a warm shape in an otherwise distant echo.
A bird is bone, feather, heart wrapped up in song.
And all the shapes a painter can make leads to
the echo of birdsong away from the brush.
And now as we paint them, giddy for their presence
So we become a little bird-ish in our sharp and eerie lives.
We lose our usual shadows and grow aching wings.
Sketchbooks fill with bird song or our attempts at it
and we understand
less than we ever did,
happily so.
(Cathy Cullis 2022)
*
I hope this poem gives you some ideas on why birds appear in my artwork. It is perhaps their enigmatic quality and universal hopefulness, but they can say much at once. They can be both ‘sweet’ and ‘sad’. (Never cute though, please not the c word).
We know from any visit to a museum that birds have featured on and in art since the earliest of times. They have carried multiple meanings to our ancestors and keep flocking back to us, with their reminders of hope and fragility and magic.
Photo: an early stitch portrait from 2009!
photo: poetry birds from 2008
p
photo: a mixed media drawing ‘birdsong’ from January this year (2022)
*
I don’t have many stories to share from the past week. Except to say that we rejoiced at seeing the tremendous rain. I watched my neighbour’s sunflowers growing taller and taller, just in a matter of days - they have almost reached the stars…..
*
Yesterday I started tentatively back at work - but am most definitely taking it slowly. Daughter is making sure of this. I am making sure of this. So slowly it is for now. Stitching with my sewing machine takes much energy and concentration - it is, despite the sitting down to it - physically quite tiring to do. It’s the intense need to watch every stitch and keep control over the drawing as well as things like tension and speed. And so please forgive me if I do not stitch with my machine for a while.
I creaked open my desk and realised what a mess I work in, and how I like it to be a bit messy because it feels I am where I should be. I painted for a while. My plan for September onward was to spend more time painting, returning to my window still life series and interiors etc… So I am starting on this a little earlier than I had expected but that is fine. I do hope you will enjoy seeing my new paintings as the emerge. I hope to have new tiny paintings too….
photo: work in progess - can you guess what might appear on the jug??
*
photo: a small sketchbook featuring birds from January 2022
Thanks always for reading here, for subscribing and for your kind comments. I hope you are keeping well. These studio notes are free to everyone to read and subscribe - if you would like to help me out and show support, then buying me a coffee is a great way to do this and much appreciated!
Cathy, our local museum has an annual exhibit each Fall of Birds in Art! The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum, in Wausau, Wisconsin, has drawn huge numbers of people over many years for this show. The images of birds are in many media by artists from far distant places. If you Google the museum, you will get a taste of just how wonderful this show is. Thank you for your lovely studio notes, I look forward to reading them every Sunday.
I truly enjoyed reading this with my tea this morning, thank you! Oh, my utter favorite painting is "The Goldfinch" by Carel Fabritius. I saw it many many years ago when friends drove me to Washington DC as an art school graduation present. Saw it again when it visited NYC. It breaks my heart a little each time. https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/our-collection/artworks/605-the-goldfinch/