This is another piece inspired during my summer working as a wrangler in Glacier National Park. We were lucky to bunk in a 1920’s historic cabin on Lake McDonald, but the mornings were early, and even in the summer, cold. We got up around 4 am every day to drag our boots through the still-sleeping forest to our corral where would ready 40 or so horses in an hour—all to be fed, groomed, saddled, and tied out--before guests started arriving for the first ride of the morning. I loved the park, the horses, and my coworkers, but there wasn’t a single part of me that didn’t feel jealous of these ravens getting to sleep in by our cabin every morning. I wished so bad for more time to sit and enjoy the sunrise like they did instead of hurrying off in the dark to a 12 hour day of sweat, dust, and hunger. I got to spend other moments with them—I saw them raise a nest, hunt squirrels—but I always wanted more time with them. Walking to my last day of work that fall, I found on the path a single, beautiful black tail feather. I cannot help but feel it was deliberate gift, though of course I know otherwise. I stitched it into my hatband so as to never lose it, and it is joined only by feathers of my two pet parrots of many years.
This was painted on tempered hardboard without linen, which allows for smooth blending of the clouds and sharp contrast of the subject against them. The ground was applied with a roller, which does impart some mild texture to the surface.
This was painted on tempered hardboard without linen, which allows for smooth blending of the clouds and sharp contrast of the subject against them. The ground was applied with a roller, which does impart some mild texture to the surface.
