One of the joys of the garden are the birds that I feed each day. I regularly see fifteen to twenty Pigeons, they gather on the neighbouring chimneys waiting for me to bring the food to the bird table at eight thirty each morning. While they are there, and before and after their arrival and departure, the smaller birds mill around the table, Hedge Sparrows and House Sparrows, Blue Tits and Great Tits. Occasionally a Black Cap or a Green Finch will appear and very rarely a Woodpecker or a pair of Parakeets. The garden will be full of Blackbirds from early morning until lunchtime and again from around three thirty as the sun begins to set. Magpies and Crows visit throughout the day, the Magpies chasing the Pigeons from the table and bullying anything they can see. There are at least three Robins that live at the top of garden near the house. If I venture up the garden I see all these and Long Tailed Tits alongside the charm of Goldfinches that fly up and down the gardens on this side of the street. I have a feeling that I'm supposed to look for meaning in the things that move me and through that understanding develop a direction but I find myself continually thinking about the work having no meaning. Simply being.

Is it even possible to make something without meaning or purpose? Immediately I know that people will scoff at this, the world is full of stuff with neither meaning nor purpose! I suspect the truth is that some things lack either meaning or purpose but rarely, if ever, both. I don't even know if this is what I mean. What I do is continually seek to limit the amount of editing I allow myself when I draw or build, I'm always looking for the minimal amount of me in any work. I am aware that editing is the activity I'm engaged in as an artist. So I started drawing birds in November when preparing for the open day. I started with the Crows, the Gulls and the Jackdaw and went for the 1mtr square format to fit frames I already had. I made the support using three sheets of A1 cartridge paper stuck together with wallpaper paste and for these first drawings left unstretched. The surface afforded the quality of the air and be random enough to remain an active part of the drawing.

The Shapes Birds Make in the Air

YThe Shapes Birds Make in the Air 1

The Shapes Birds Make in the Air 2

The Shapes Birds Make in the Air 3

The Shapes Birds Make in the Air 4

YThe Shapes Birds Make in the Air 5

The Shapes Birds Make in the Air 6

The Shapes Birds Make in the Air 7 WIP

The Shapes Birds Make in the Air 10 WIP

Scaffold Birds

Bird Wash