Requiem

[tealin]

Cramming in drawing time just before sleep again, but that was all I could do, as I spent all day at work and the remainder of my evening at church, vowing to go to bed as soon as I got home. So there I was on my bed, completely out of enthusiasm or subject matter. Luckily my hands are always there (knock on wood), though this one's thumb is even more disproportionate than it actually is. Then my cat hopped onboard, and I got in a few drawings of him before deciding that the remaining couple inches of the page just weren't going to get filled.


In tidying about the house today, my roommate found a dead bird on the porch, right next to the back door. I convinced her not to "throw it out" so that I could draw it. In just looking it up, I found it's a Winter Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes, though as far as I know it doesn't actually dwell in caves)... here are some photos.

Really quite a subtly exquisite little bird, upon close examination. I did a couple of sketches of it from various directions on the patio table, then some details of the claw and head with my magnifying glass, and a size comparison, to show how extremely tiny it was against my gloved hand which, I admit, is a fair deal larger than my ungloved hand. Such a tiny little spark of life, when alive, and so very very small when dead. I could hardly feel it in my hand. After I'd filled my page I buried it in the blackberry patch out back. Somehow thowing it in the garbage can would have just been ... very wrong.

Comments

[sammysmee.livejournal.com]

ahh wow you have a very good teqnique when i comes to drawing from life.. i need to start doing it more.. i try and to observational skeches of ym cat and she usually stares at me and walkes off knowing im trying to draw her lol!!

the bird sketches are wonderful! unfortunaly i dont think id have the strength to look at that poor little thing for more than 10 seconds without crying.. im a little too sensative. its a sad thing to see.
we have wrens in our back garden (im in england) and their so tiny!! probably one of my fave birds after the pheasant!

whoops im babbing lol! i love your sketches..very neat!