#what kestrel said to him years ago about that being the root of their love was true

[spectrum-color]

And Molly has died now, most likely to free up Fitz and Bee for a more active storyline. I thought it was fitting for both characters that the memories Fitz inadvertently Skilled out after he found her weren’t middle aged Molly his wife of 20 years, but teenage Molly in Buckkeep Town. Bee was right that the two of them never really grew up to each other. To the end of their relationship, he was New Boy and she was Molly Redskirts.

#rote readthrough #realm of the elderings #rote #fitzchivalry farseeer #molly chandler #molly was always symbolic of his adolescence I think #what kestrel said to him years ago about that being the root of their love was true #so he was never going to think of her at the end of her life as the grandmother she had become #but rather his first love when he was 16 and reckless #I wonder if this means the fool will come back #on a narrative level this clears the way for him in the story #though I feel kind of mercenary saying that #fitz and the fool spoilers

[barry-kent-mackay]

Wow, growing up in a house with free flying birds on a regular basis sounds amazing! Was it chaotic, do any notable stories (or "tenants") stick out? Besides Priscilla, whose shenanigans I read and much enjoyed :) Did you get to paint them from life that way, or were they too skittish?

The whole concept of wildlife rehabilitation was new, and so we unintentionally imprinted some birds that we couldn’t release, so they were too tame to release, and not just one, but many left lasting impressions and resulted in fascinating incidences, and yes, until I reached the age where I had to wear reading glasses, which I find makes sketching from life difficult, I did draw many of them.

For one period of twelve years, her whole life, I often drew with Zuma an imprinted female American Kestrel brought to us by my older brother when I was in my teens, sitting on my head. I often joke that I owe the fact that I’m not bald to the fertilizer she kindly deposited upon my scalp and the frequency with which I subsequently had to shampoo. I was talking about her to a colleague a few years ago and when I got to her death…a gentle one, in the dead of night, as she sat on my lap, I teared up…forty years later.

There were many others who were with us long enough for deep attachments to form, like Misty, the Northern Mockingbird, brought to us as a chick from a nest wiped out by a cat, and who would sit on my knee and sing and for reasons no one will ever know loved to punch his beak into my mother’s lipstick. My email address, [email protected] is in his memory, “Mimus” being the generic name of the mockingbird.

I also think I owe the frequency with which I paint young birds, immature plumages, baby birds, owed much to the many my mother and I hand-raised. You are right…sketching birds is difficult because of their quickness…and often it was just a part of a the bird that got sketched. I’m wary of those artists who present detailed studies of birds and other animals in the wild, and claim they were sketched in the field from life. There are some that allow it…an owl on a branch, a duck sleeping by the water’s edge, a heron stalking prey with that slow motion movement they have, but usually I just focused on observation more than recording.

I’m not a very good photographer, but I now own a digital camera that does most of the work, and while I don’t exactly create pictures worthy of National Geographic, I do find the images useful.

Attached are some examples of pictures of actual birds. The first three show Jesus (pronounced Hay-soos…a common name in the countries where they are native) who was the first Painted Redstart ever to occur in Canada, which he did late in the fall ahead of a blizzard. Desperate for food he entered an apple shed in search of fruit flies where he was captured and since he could not be released without sealing his fate, he was given to my mother and me.

We allowed him the freedom of the apartment we lived in so long as he went in his cage for the night. In summer I caught insects for him and year round we fed him fruit flies, root maggots and meal worms we raised as well as other foods and he lived for about eight years, never being really tame but not in panic, sort of an understanding. If I put the insects in a jar in the fridge it would slow them down, then I’d bring it out and he’d wait for them as they emerged through holes I punched in the lid, or we’d take the lid off and he’d plunge into the jar.

The third one is a finished colour study of my beloved Zuma, and the last is based on sketches of Misty.

The last one is one of my more detailed field sketches illustrating what I said about sleeping birds being easier to draw in the wild. I often threw away my field sketches since it was the doing of them that was important, but I kept a few, like this one of Canada Geese quietly resting in shallow water.

Cheers,

Barry

#birds #birblr #birdlr #ask box #anon asks #q and a #barry kent mackay #bird art #artist #text