Every week @nelinoeva hosts a fun contest in the Feathered Friends Community. This week's theme is Bird Art!
My life is filled with bird art. I love to create it, and I fill my home with it. I notice it when I am out and about. Henceforth I am very excited about this week's theme.
I hope you like looking at art with birds, because this is one loooooong post.
I'll start with a quick share of some bird art around the city. This is my favorite I've seen so far. It's on the side of a memorial mausoleum that overlooks a wildlife refuge.
Next are some giant bird paintings on a school bungalow. Unfortunately they were victim to vandalism. The scrub jay was mostly saved, but the flicker will have to bear the marks until someone can repaint him.
At the street fair I saw this lovely drawing of a raven and took a photo (with the community in mind).
Around my apartment I have a lot of little art corners and altars and sacred spaces, most of which are adorned in some way or another with birds.
I purchased this heron print in Seattle. It was painted by Danny Dennis in the Haida art style that is well known throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Here are some of my little altar nooks.
A box of matches given to me by a friend who is now passed. We shared a love of birds.
This was also something from her.
These little chickens live on my bookshelf. I think the little toy on the left is from the 1960s or 70s.
This super cute papier-mache chicken coin bank I've had for decades. I'm pretty sure it was made in Tijuana, Mexico. My mom bought it at a thrift store when I was young.
A memorial space for deceased grandparents, a cousin, and her partner who passed a few years after her. The crane figurines belonged to my grandmother. They hold a strong connection to my memories of going to her house when I was very little. She kept them on a shelf in her library room.
The art was made by me.
Which is a perfect segue into a showcasing of my own art.
Many of you know me for my photographs, particularly those of crows.
But crow photography is something I have only recently gotten into. Throughout my life I have always loved to make bird art.
These are drawings I made with colored pencil when I was a teenager. My brother and I would sit around the dining table drawing while we listened to audio files of episodes of Star Trek TNG we had pirated from Napster. (Remember Napster?? The kids are like, whaaaa?)
Oops, that's a dog.
I've also made paintings of birds.
This is a watercolor.
This is acrylic on wood canvas.
And this is acrylic on salvaged pallet board that I would collect from outside of a printing company when I was in massage school and was too broke to buy canvas but needed to paint. The skull style was influenced by the raven's skull.
My ex actually used this image as an album cover for his band, but we won't promote that here because he had a terrible voice (and I'm not just saying that because he's my ex).
To help me resolve the regrets over letting him use the image, let's submit this as my OFFICIAL PHOTO ENTRY to the #smap contest!⬇️
Yay! I feel better already.
In the past year I have gotten into digital art. These are available as NFTs. I'm including the links below each image should you, ahem, happen to want to buy something and support my bird habit I mean work. 😉
Why Pick One When You Can Have It All
I will close with this digital work-in-progress, which, some day, will also be listed. When I get around to finishing it...
Thanks for checking out my entry to the #smap contest! You can use the link at the beginning of the post to see the rules if you want to enter. It ends Sunday, so you still have time. Your pictures don't need to be professional quality, either, just fun and/or interesting.
instagram: @se_pdx_crows
A percentage of this post's rewards goes back to support the community.