Hope

I have tried to open up with this piece. I haven't built up the same layer of paint that is at work in the sister painting, but I am focusing on not letting that be a hindrance. I began tracing the sparrows in this painting then moving them around the composition and transferring them onto the surface of the painting with carbon paper. The result is a nice graphic outline of the birds hidden within the paintwork. They are a type of second generation image. I am also beginning to work with the birdsong. Birdsong came up at the Mass Art interview, and mention of it made me realize that I had yet to explore the attributes of the birds I was so keen on including in my work. So here I've taken the first portion of the Savannah Sparrow song tititi and transcribed it to Morse code, dash dot dash dot dash dot. It is sprinkled throughout the composition.

Hope 4' x 2'

Panel no. 2; 4' x 2'

I am already well beyond what is pictured above. I have fully articulated the third bird pictured here as only a drawing. And I began working with doilies to build texture and weight at the bottom of the composition. This panel is much drier than Heal and I am not sure if I will keep or lose that aspect. So far it feels neat, perhaps pastel. There is text throughout the work. They are phrases from a radio show I listened to while working. The show talked about various imaginings of the afterlife. The particular snippets I chose struck me as very poetic; "brief twinkling", "recycling of souls", "when your name is spoken for the last time".