Counting Crows

What is it with crows?  As soon as I finish a painting that ISN'T a crow, I start a painting that IS. 

I've painted this one:

This piece was my first mixed media piece.

I was trying to sort out all the problems of the world.

I wasn't successful.

and this one:              

                                                                      and this one:

this  crow came after our house burned down. 

here's another:


                   and another:

and yet another:

can't forget this one:

this is the first piece that I ever sold "professionally"

and now I'm painting, guess what... A CROW!

Crows.  Blackbirds.  Ravens.  I paint them all.  They are technically members of the same family and like those bad kids that live down the street, they do not have a stellar reputation.    Farmers pretty much hate them.  Edgar Allen Poe creeped us out with them.  Every movie with a cemetery setting has a crow squawking somewhere in the scene.  I think crows get a bad rap.  I mean, in my family, I AM a crow.  All of the people in our family are birds.  I know it doesn't make sense to outsiders, but for further explanation you can check out my youngest son's blogpost: www.thejaybirdchronicles.com/2010/08/flock-of-freaks.html

People say crows are thieves and like to steal shiny, pretty things and squirrel them away in secret places but...did you know that crows can fashion a tool out of sticks to retrieve food in a place that is too small for him to fit into and too far for him to reach?

Crows can be insanely loud ...but they also have great memories and their squawks warn their children of dangers and send an alarm if they see someone or something that has harmed them in the past. 

They may eat in places where they haven't been invited ... but they are satisfied feasting on juicy berries when they are in season and are still satified when they have to munch on a flattened possum in the right hand lane.


Crows care for each other, spend years living at home, mate for life...they sunbathe, smear oils on their skin (they get it from smushed ants) and play. . . they play tug of war and catch and chase. 


And they dance.


I can learn much from crows and I know I'll keep on painting them.  

Afterall, I'm in good company:  

Van Gogh's last painting
Wheat Field with Crows.

"The painting is of the subject, but it is also of me."  Harley Brown, artist
*in honor of Corvids, I'm listening to the Black Crowes this week.  
When She Talks to Angels plays, I'll be hitting the repeat button (see "Listening To" at right)*