Julia Mira
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Madrona, Robin, and Towhee Drum

7/7/2017

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The Green Man is a favorite theme of mine. I like the intimacy of human interleaving with non-human. In this case, I wanted to do something with madrona blossoms, because, well, because. I like madronas.

So, I looked carefully at Brad Pitt's face to get an idea of proportions. Yes, that is Brad Pitt looking at you. With some modifications, of course. 

The bird on the left is a robin who likes to stand in my garden every morning, making remarks. The bird on the right is a towhee, which ordinarily likes to snuffle around on the ground, leaving divots in the moss as it grips stuff, then flings it backwards with both feet to see what is scurrying around underneath. But I've seen them in madronas too. 

I was listening to Terry Pratchett's "Feet of Clay" while painting this drum. I like to listen to text rather than music because it keeps the monkey mind occupied while the creative mind is allowed to do its thing. As a result, I can glance at much of my work and some book or other pops into my mind. That works for woolen hats, too. I used to read aloud to my kids while knitting, and I can still meet a customer of mine wearing a hat, and suddenly I remember C.S.Lewis' "The Silver Chair," or Brian Jacques' "Redwall" series. Like an external bibliography. Some people use card catalogues, I use paintings and woolen hats.
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