Charley Harper and Cardinals

Artist Charley Harper was known for his stylized wildlife depictions. Whether it was prints, posters, illustrations or other media, you could see what he called, "minimal realism". He wanted to show the essence of his subject with the fewest details.

When asked to describe what he does, Charley said, "When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see the feathers in the wings, I just count the wings. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures. ."

I chose these housewares with his design, because I have a special place in my heart for cardinals. Perhaps it's more like a family conclave who live in my yard, and one pair who especially touch me.

Every day, I see when the female is at the birdfeeder, the male is nearby watching out for her. It's nice to know chivalry exists in the bird world....or is that, "safety in numbers"? Either way, I like what I see.

Flew The Nest

Final baby cardinal update: they've flown the nest.

Darn, I'm going to miss watching the two little birds and their very nurturing parents right outside my desk window. 

But the upside is, I won't spend hours each day acting like an over protective nanny when the parents are out gathering food. 

For some reason, I would spend extra time watching over them, when I'd see the parents leave.  Perhaps it was their ever present loud little chirps, or just the "Mom" gene in me.

I had named them Squeaky Wheel and Elroy.  Squeaky was the loudest and more persistent in pushing away the other one to get to the food.

But seeing that I seem to go for the underdog, Elroy was the one I watched the most.  Concerned that he wasn't getting as much food, I'd look to see that the parents were being relatively fair.

Then one day, both hopped up on the side of the nest and out onto nearby branches.  This is Elroy.  He stood there for awhile and made a lot of noise.  Not quite ready to fly, he hopped around until he got down to the ground and just kept awkwardl hopping, into our undergrowth.  I watched as the parents flew overhead protecting  him.  I wish more human parents did as good a job as these cardinals.

So now the two kids are gone and the nest is abandoned.  I miss them.  They were much better than the nature channel on television and observing them up close was a treat. I guess I'd better get back to focusing on making beads.  Tomorrow it will be about glass again, I promise.