The Mukudori Looked Heavenward

Saturday afternoon, it was the trill of the tiny Shijukara (Japanese Finch) that called me to the hill at Far End. But while looking around for the background, context in which to draw the bird--who kept hopping from one tree to another--I saw the gutsy Mukudori (Starling), ambling toward a tree and looking up towards the top of it. The greenery at the foot of the tree, the black and white of the bird, the rough brown trunk, the paralell shapes of the bird and the tree trunk...before I knew it, I found myself whipping out my memo pad and sketch brush and quickly scrawling outlines of what I wanted to draw.

What I've taught myself to do is to make really lousy sketches at first, mostly drawing things I have to remember about the living thing, which I know will probably take off in a few seconds. If somebody looked at my drawing then, they'd think elementary kids could draw better, and feel sorry for me but leave me alone because I'm not hurting anybody.

That's probably why most artists don't want people looking at their work until they're done; a lot of their things look ugly halfway through. That's the way it is with children of God, isn't it? Until Glorification, some of our hearts look kinda ugly, like elementary kids tried to draw us.

JUST PARK ANIMALS

Call me crazy. But I tell you, SOMEONE who reads blogs is telling the critters at the park about the posts!

Because I wrote about the animals in Okinawa coming out where it was warmer, and not to be outdone, when I went back to the park up here in Iwatsuki, altho' it's still Feb., in one day I was met with spot-billed mallards, greenhead mallards, egrets, great blue herons, kawasemi, turtles, carp, pigeon, wagtail, thrush, and the usual crow and sparrow.

Then I wrote about the Cormorant, and from the neighboring river, not only did the cormorant come to the park, and not only did he bring a companion, but as I wrote in my post, he brought 2!

Yesterday, I posted a drawing made 2 years ago, made from imagination. I found another one made of the birds at the park, but it included the Starling. Altho' I thought about posting it, I said to myself I haven't seen Starlings here for months now (it is an autumn bird), so maybe I shouldn't post it...but when I walked into the park this afternoon, guess what bird first met my eye? The Starling!

"Starlings don't wink, do they?" I e-mailed my sister. It felt like this one did!

Today, for reasons I won't go into, I didn't take my memo or drawing pens with me. But it seems the birds were all smiling and trying to keep me guessing. Egrets, kawasemis, herons, crows, wagtails, thrushes were all out, joined by turtles and carp.

"What? You think we can understand human words or something?" they seemed to say; "We're just park animals!"