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crows

10/5/2022

2 Comments

 

You can't pay attention to trees without noticing the biker gang of the bird world

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This past September I set out to focus my attention on the trees and some tangled deadfall that was nearby, when I went out to visit, contemplate, and observe how the light hit this tree line every early evening, for the most part, I could tune out the other things easily...the curious chipmunks, low flying planes from Pease, loud dump trucks, neighborhood dogs barking, diving nuthatches making peeping sounds...but the one thing that kept absolutely demanding my attention over and over was the biker gang of the bird world...the crows.
I just shifted my focus over to them and started sketching to satisfy their demands for attention even they didn't much comply with staying still or quiet. 
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I am reminded of my Grandfather Chuck every time the crows stop by to chat.  Chuck used to "crow call" at us grandkids when he wanted our attention...once, when I was about 12 or 13 years old and shopping in a large busy mall with my teenage girlfriends...we were browsing the latest fashions in a store called "Rave" ... which was also was affectionately known in school as "the heavy metal slut store" ... and off in the distance came a "CAHHHH CAHHHHH" in this low deep loud growly voice.  Everyone in a five store radius is looking around for the source and about 30 yards away, across a huge corridor and through fifty people, and at the entrance of a shoe store, I see my grandfather looking directly at me with smirk.
He brings his hands up to his mouth to cup a hand-made megaphone and bellows out another ridiculously loud "CAHHHHH! CAHHHHH!" which is so loud that the crowd in the mall instantly quiets as the sound echoes off the tall ceilings and radiates into space and time...and as my face gets redder and I smirk uncontrollably at his lack of embarrassment, he disappears back into the store from which he came.
I never told my friends it was my Gramps, I always figured it was "our" thing that I would hold close forever
​. 
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CROW #1 11"X14" PAPER (8"X10" IMAGE)
Two of the charcoal crows that I sketched are available in my studio shop HERE
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or click on the images above

Be sure and stop by October's online Gallery TANGLED
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2 Comments
Paula Raulinaitis
10/5/2022 04:58:13 pm

I SO love this story because I could picture it in my mind!

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Chris Newton
10/6/2022 04:15:23 pm

What a joy to read this. So well written and I could hear the "cawww cawww" so clearly. Well done.

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    Sketchbook
    ​& Notes

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    Erin Thomas

    Excerpts from:
    Ask Me About My Art  / 2020

    ​

    Where does your inspiration come from? 

          "Everywhere! That's a bit of a tough question because inspiration is fluid and constantly evolving and it changes minute to minute, hour by hour.  I could be passionate about circles one day and trip over a rock and obsess about the color of that particular rock for a decade.  It's a constant surprise for me, that's what makes life, and art... interesting and beautiful."

    What is your creative process?
           "Well, that might be an entire separate book! I guess the simple answer is that I dump the things that clutter my brain into art so I can make room to upload all the new things." 

    What medium do you primarily work in?
          "Depends on the subject, the colors I am drawn to that day, the subject I'm looking at and whatever it is that is inspiring me at that moment...I use whatever tool necessary to best convey the story, image, or message.  I do seem to have a comfort level with acrylic on canvas, written word or digital photography, I frequently lean on and return to those tools after trying a few other things."

    Are there specific techniques that you use in your work?
    "I suppose in a way, I have created my own techniques over the years, I do have some art school & materials training, but my goal with art has always been how to get what's in my head into a more firm or permanent reality... translating what I see when I close my eyes, I've always wondered what thoughts looked like and how color smells, I like to creatively name things and see all their angles... those things drive me.  I've never really loved replicating reality or deep diving technical skills because the kind of art I'm after is more born from the rawness of coming straight from a thought to paper." 



    Erin Thomas is an artist living in Southern Maine
    ​EMAIL ERIN THOMAS

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Erin M. Thomas
BERWICK - MAINE
207.337.3713
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