How I came to have this Anna's Hummingbird, one of our northwest natives, is a sad story. It flew into a newly washed picture window, so the window reflected the sky. The bird died.To assure the accident wasn't repeated, I made a long string of prayer flags out of translucent trace. It zig zags across the window to warn other birds: no fly-through!
I dried the hummingbird, and now it sits in another window where I can admire it's beautiful feathers. In different shifts of light, it's back shimmers like new leaves in spring, or green glass bottles, or the gleaming blue of an aqua sea. It's throat is studded with tiny ruby feathers that glow like orange embers at the slightest shift of light.
On this Color Monday, I am making a study of this exuberant palette, and paying tribute to Anna's Hummingbird, whose colors are take your breath away beautiful.
My dad's an illustrator so growing up I'd always find dead animals in our freezer so he could draw them later. Weird.
ReplyDeleteOoooh, I this is one of my favorite palettes you've posted. Sad story, but I like the way you put up the prayer flags.
ReplyDeletei'm glad some of us appreciate dead animals. i prefer them alive, but if they have to die, at least they can inspire art.
ReplyDeleteand kjerstin, i love this palette too.