Crow Conspiracy

Crow Conspiracy

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"Crow Conspiracy" - oil on cradled wood panel, 16 x 20 x 2 inches.  This is unframed but ready to hang.  Click on the image to purchase.
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"The crow cawed again overhead, and a strong sea wind came in and burst through the trees, making the green pine needles shake themselves all over the place. That sound always gave me goose bumps, the good kind. It was the sound an orphan governess hears in a book, before a mad woman sets the bed curtains on fire."
- April Genevieve Tucholke

Our little crow family is becoming feral again - less friendly, more raucous, ready to rumble in the big flocks.  They conspire, caw, whisper and chortle.

The seasonal gathering of crows (a murder) is sometimes considered a symbol of death, but I prefer the alternate theme: change, or the death of something to make way for something new.

And those of you who know me know that murder season in the studio means buckets of gesso or oil paint and the destruction of my own creations.  To make way for the new.
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​Normally I wait until January to begin murdering canvases.  This year, the upheaval in the larger world spilled over into the studio and one artist with murderous intent is already on the loose.  We're all mad here at malarkey central.  Muwahaha.

And so the annual event in my shop begins today.  Grab them while you can! I am channeling Brian Rutenberg big time - "A brush is not a sacred implement that makes precious marks, it is an extension of my fist. Anything precious is self-conscious, and that kills creativity. "   Creativity will not be killed here.  But preciousness?  It's history.

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​About the art:  this piece is a paint over of an existing work, which always lends extra depth and interest to the overall effect.  For this one, many layers of walnut oil-thinned paint of various colors for the border and background, then drawing through those layers with a small rubber wedge to reveal some of the underpainting and create a faux border.  The crow itself is made of many layers of blues and blacks applied with a wet, thin brush in long strokes, letting the paint lay like "feathers".  Lots of drying time on this majestic bird.

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