The second photo is by Ethan Pearce  Â
Continuing my pursuit of those melancholy birds as research for the “Aviator’s Dream” painting, this morning we walked the trusty hound to the park, seeking out ravens as we went. It seems that they enjoy the comfort of their beds on a Sunday morning as much as I do, for we saw none until we turned back to return home, when we spotted several of them, all being chased by a variety of angry smaller birds, presumably because they were raiding their nests for a tasty egg breakfast. My boy caught a few shots of them in flight, and I found a couple more. One of them was really large, possessing a wingspan of at least four feet.
With such dramatic curving wings and character, maybe some of these will end up in “The Aviator’s Dream” piece accompanying raven-winged Daedalus as he watches Icarus fall. I’m interested in the relationship that might develop between Daedalus and the ravens in this and future works. Daedalus clearly has great potential as the archetypal artist, while the ravens have great potential as representatives of the outsider.
It’s been good to look back on the process of making this painting so far, comparing the earlier pictures with the present state. The category links on the right allow you to choose to follow one story. So if you want to follow the progress of Storm (The Aviator’s Dream) click here or simply go to the link in categories on the right, find “storm” and click it. (Scroll down, because the most recent entries come up first)Â
