catbird and red currants

[asakiyume]

I love catbirds. They are so friendly! They come very near to people and just start chatting. When I hang up laundry, when I go out on my porch, when I'm looking at my plants, along comes a catbird.

The catbirds also like to eat my red currants. The season is pretty much over now, but I drew a chalk drawing in the 90+ degree heat to commemorate catbirds and red currants. I had it on good authority from the weather people that it wasn't going to rain until tomorrow at the earliest, which meant the chalk drawing would survive at least until morning for people to see.

NOPE! Flash storm! Big rain! Ah, evanescence.

Anyway, here is the drawing, which had a life span of approximately seven hours.



And here is a close-up.



Beneath the cut are a couple of process shots







And here's a photo by Marie Lehmann from www.audubon.org of this friendly bird:

Comments

[sovay]

Anyway, here is the drawing, which had a life span of approximately seven hours.

It was gorgeous!

[asakiyume]

Thank you. I could hear a real, actual catbird as I was doing it, which was nice.

[pameladean]

Oh, that really captures a catbird!

Ours like to yell incessantly from cover. Yours sound more like robins. I don't mean you mistook one for the other, just that for me, the robins are the curious, chatty ones.

P.

[asakiyume]

Thank you!

Our robins here are much more businesslike. They hop around in the yard (and sometimes scarf a red currant or two), but they don't come up and try to discourse with you about a thing the way the catbirds do.

[pameladean]

That is so interesting! I know the same species of bird in different locations have variant local calls, accents as it were, so I guess there's no reason that they shouldn't have different other traits as well.

P.

[asakiyume]

Exactly! If they were on the internet, they'd be making up memes about which population of X bird in which geography was the most gregarious, aloof, opportunistic, sweet-talking, and so on.

[pameladean]

Would love to be a fly on the wall for the bird internet.

P.

[asakiyume]

Me too!

[amaebi]

Avoiding the channels/threads/groups dominated by insectivorous birds, of course....

[ranunculus]

People walking down the sidewalk may not have had time to enjoy it, but all your friends are! Very nicely done.

[asakiyume]

Thank you, and yes, I'm glad to be able to share it here ^_^

[sartorias]

I'm glad you took a picture!

Chalk drawing is so fun.

[asakiyume]

It is SO fun. Love doing it.

[sonia]

I love how much personality your bird drawing has, and the green and currant-y setting you gave it. How long did it take to make it? Would you consider making the chalk drawing again?

Great new icon!

[asakiyume]

It's pretty large: under the cut you can see a little water bottle and a washcloth, plus some old winter gloves that I use for blending colors. I think it took about two hours?

I probably wouldn't try doing it again from scratch. This one I could possibly renew--just go over it and clarify the lines and darken the colors... but I have to work today, and it's due to rain again, so probably I'll just let it fade and come up with another design at some point.

[anna_wing]

Lovely! Basically the artistic equivalent of cherry blossom...

[asakiyume]

Yes, there's something kind of freeing about it. The other week I tried a beaver--wasn't very happy with how it turned out (for that reason I didn't post it here)--and in a few days it was gone! So you can experiment and mess up and then soon your space is clear again for something new.

[amaebi]

Perfect.

[gingicat]

I hope you enjoyed making the art, at least. It's lovely!

[asakiyume]

I enjoyed it a lot ^_^ I'm not really upset--it's in the nature of drawing with chalk. Just a little miffed because I'd wanted to show it off to the neighborhood. But I got to show it off online, so it's all good ;-)

[umadoshi]

I love your art! And I've never seen a catbird before, so thank you for including the photo of one. What a darling!

[asakiyume]

Aren't they sweet?

They make many different sounds--often they're like a happy, tone-deaf singer, squeaking away with all kinds of notes, cheerful but not very musical. But other times they really do make a noise very like a cat meowing.

[elusiveat]

Beautiful. Love the natural asphalt color as the gray of the bird.

[asakiyume]

Thank you! Yes--just about the perfect shade for a catbird!

[mallorys_camera]

❤️❤️❤️

[asakiyume]

😘🥰

[squirrelitude]

Lovely drawing! I mostly know catbirds as fairly shy and reclusive, so it's great that you get to see and hear more of them. Probably has something to do with the availability of currants. :-)

[asakiyume]

Maybe so! That's a nice thought. Happy to share the currants if it makes the catbirds feel more friendly.

[osprey_archer]

What a beautiful chalk drawing! Unfair of the rain to wash it away so quickly, but such is the nature of rain, I suppose.

[asakiyume]

Thank you! Yeah, it is, and I got photos, so it's all good.

*

[minoanmiss]

You bring us so muvh beauty!

Re: *

[asakiyume]

As do you, my friend ^_^

[puddleshark]

NOPE! Flash storm! Big rain! Ah, evanescence.

LOL.

But it was gorgeous, while it lasted. Thank you.

[asakiyume]

Thank *you* :-)

[nineweaving]

What a lovely, mischievous drawing! Evanescence is a quality you share with Andy Goldsworthy.

Nine

[asakiyume]

It may have been you who first introduced me to him! How I do love what he does--truly marvelous

[smokingboot]

Heart lifting art, thank you ... and the model's pretty sweet too!

[asakiyume]

The model is such a good friend ^_^

and thank you--I'm glad it was heart lifting 💛

[wayfaringwordhack]

Your evanescent art is beautiful, and what a character-full bird that is, both in your art depiction and the photograph.

[asakiyume]

The actual bird has such a pert natural posture, doesn't he? And a bright black eye.

[wayfaringwordhack]

It does indeed; it positively oozes personality.