Amabie

pandemic
healing spirit rises
from the sea

I missed Draw-a-Bird Day in March.  Amabie is not exactly a bird, but they have a bird beak.  A Japanese Yokai spirit, Amabie has reappeared recently in fresh interpretations all over the world.  The image of the Yokai itself is supposed to act as a charm against infectious disease.

Mine is a bit more fierce than most, but I feel the ferocity is warranted.  You can read more about Amabie, and see some gentler interpretations, here and here.

Tomorrow starts NaPoWriMo!  As Nina is still on haitus, I will be posting each day at my blog https://kblog.blog/.  Join in!

Black Cockatoo (draw a bird day)

I wanted to at least keep Draw-a-Bird-Day going for Nina and me, even if we’re both absent from WordPress at the moment.  This is an old drawing that I never posted, but it seemed appropriate in many ways for the way the world feels right now.

Black Cockatoos are native to Australia and the surrounding islands, and were already facing habitat loss before the fires.  They are highly social and intelligent birds, but they also have mythical and cultural associations.  Symbols of change, spiritual freedom, communication, and survival, they are traditionally called on for their rain magic.  Black birds in general hold the secrets of alchemy, mystery, and transformation.  Our earth is crying out for all these things.

earth needs rain magic
to cleanse despair’s inferno
breathe flowers like stars

I also want to note that when you google “cockatoo” most of the links are about keeping them as pets.  Confinement and separation are not a natural or desirable existence for these beautiful creatures, and they can easily become destructive, depressed, and needy without constant attention and the freedom to wander and socialize in large flocks that is their normal way of life.

 

Crested Caracara (draw a bird day)

appearances tell
stories, actions shout, defy
classification

I bought a bird book at a library sale intending to use the photos for collage.  Looking through, I was drawn to the same bird in two different sections of the book: the crested caracara.  The Cornell Bird Lab says it “looks like a hawk, behaves like a vulture, and is technically a falcon”.  Hence my senryu, for Colleen’s weekly challenge with poet’s choice of words.  Apply to humans as needed.

 

Crested Caracaras live from the Southern United States down through Central and South America.  They are also known as the Mexican eagle, and are the subject of folklore throughout the region.  The only falcon that collects material to build a nest, caracaras are carnivorous scavengers, who will also hunt for small prey by running on or digging in the ground if necessary.

I painted my image first on wax paper using acrylic, intending to do a monoprint, which did not work–the paint was not dense or thick enough.  I then painted it on rice paper, also using acrylic.  This made the paper shrink in places, but worked better than I expected.  I photographed both images, then superimposed the wax paper over the rice paper–strangely they fit together well, considering I did no pencil drawing for either, but just painted each.

Once again, Draw a Bird Day, the 8th of each month, is serving as a placeholder here at MeMadTwo while Nina takes an extended break. I’m hoping she’ll be back in soon.  In the meantime, you can find me (Kerfe) at https://kblog.blog/.

Draw a Bird Day: Short-eared Owl

following behind–
owl-shadow, like a prism
scattering the dark

I did a few of these brush-painted flying owls and all of them looked very fishlike to me.  I usually think of owls as catlike, but in air they swim.  Short-eared owls in flight are described as “moth-like”.

Short-eared owls have wide distribution, occurring on all continents except Australia and Antarctica.  The map I saw for North America showed wide declines in coastal populations due to loss of habitat, although those in the center of the United States and Canada seemed stable.

They eat mainly rodents, and are in turn food for raptors and larger mammals because they nest on the ground.  Most active from dusk through dawn, they fly low over fields looking for prey.

Also for Colleen’s #TankaTuesday poet’s choice of words.  It’s becoming a regular for Draw-a-Bird Day.

Once again, Draw a Bird Day, the 8th of each month, is serving as a placeholder here at MeMadTwo while Nina takes an extended break.  I’m missing her, aren’t you?

In the meantime, you can find me (Kerfe) at https://kblog.blog/.

 

Draw-a-Bird Day: Pileated Woodpecker

Can you hear it? Earth’s
heartbeat chants in rhythm with
the drumming of birds.

I’ve been meaning to draw a woodpecker for awhile.  I painted this without a sketch, so the proportions are a little off, but I think it captures the essence–the colors and the crest and long beak.  I also put white on white lines for trees in the background.  Pileated Woodpeckers prefer to live in old growth forests, nesting in dead trees, and their numbers declined as forests were cleared in the 19th century.  But their numbers seem to be increasing again, as they adapt to new environments.

At my last residence I would see and hear red-headed woodpeckers. I haven’t seen any here, but on many weekends the African drummers are in residence at the historic mansion around the corner.  Both man and bird connecting to earth’s rhythms.

Once again, Draw a Bird Day, the 8th of each month, is serving as a placeholder here at MeMadTwo while Nina takes an extended break.  Come back soon Nina, and bring some birds!

In the meantime, you can find me (Kerfe) at https://kblog.blog/.

Draw a Bird Day: Golden Winged Warbler

tiny wanderer–
shrinking woodlands, flash of gold–
following your voice

The golden winged warbler is a tiny (5″) bird that is among the most endangered on a long list of endangered birds.  The population has been reduced by 2/3 in the last 50 years, mostly due to habitat loss in both breeding grounds (the largest population breeds in Michigan) and wintering habitat (in Central and South America–a long migration away).  They are shy, but vocal.

Once again, Draw a Bird Day, the 8th of each month, is serving as a placeholder here at MeMadTwo while Nina takes an extended break.  Come back soon Nina!

In the meantime, you can find me (Kerfe) at https://kblog.blog/.

 

Draw-a-Bird Day: short crested coquette

I consulted with the Oracle about this tiny (3″) Mexican hummingbird, one of many of the endangered bird species of the world.  Less than 1000 are estimated to exist.

I did my first sketch, above, in colored pencil, but felt the colors lacked enough vibrancy, so I painted the top one with my metallic watercolors.

Flowers grow feathered
wings humming bird poetry
air breathes spiritsong

 

(nowhere) to be found

it’s the alone in
the dance that makes the never
knowing so complete

Amaya at dVerse asked us to consider music that brings us to tears.  There are many candidates these days, but I chose Jackson Browne’s “For a Dancer” for it’s longevity and continued relevance in that department.  People, places, things…they are always “dancing in and out of view”.

And a ghazal for the song as well.

In the quiet of a summer’s afternoon I think of you
in the absence that is always in this room I think of you

My mind plays tricks and mixes up the present and the past
in memories recalled and then exhumed I think of you

Bananas peaches lemons oranges strawberries and limes
in fruit that ripens and releases its perfume I think of you

I search for guidance in the symbols of mythologies and stars
in portents that appear like ghostly runes I think of you

The fiber spun and dyed the needle waiting in my hand
in threads that cross like patterns on a loom I think of you

Sometimes I seem to recognize a voice calling and turn
in the abbreviation of my nom de plume I think of you

Pay attention to the open skies.

 

but who’s counting?

just another day
with another mass shooting
(thoughts and prayers optional)

It wasn’t even the top headline on the front page of the newspaper this morning.

I’ll visit the Oracle tomorrow.

posted on dVerse Open Link Night, hosted this week by Mish

 

Draw a Bird Day: sheltered by shadows

jeweled feathers caught
in reflected mist—cloistered
chiaroscuro

This is another brightly colored resident of the South American cloud forest, the grey-breasted mountain toucan.  As with all inhabitants of the world’s cloud forests, they are a threatened species because of habitat loss.

Drawn with neocolors.