Raven, Crows, and Autumn

Every year I am struck by the way certain bird calls herald the seasons for me. Autumn, in particular, has sounds that make it “real.” The slow chirp of field crickets when they are a bit colder, and less frequent, the wistful dusk calls of the white throated sparrow, the piping bedtime squabbles of large flocks of robins migrating through; all these sounds mean fall to me. And there are absences, too - like the gradual increase and then decrease in cicada sounds, and the same for the colors of the trees.

The sound that most means autumn to me, however, is the distant calls of crows, as they cover ground in the early morning, keeping tabs on each other. Crows and ravens have a special place in my emotional landscape. Here is a piece that came to me this September, thinking about these changes of the year.

Acrylic and white charcoal on Arches 140 lb hot press paper - 19 by 19 inches.

Here is the preliminary drawing that led to the painting. Part of the inspiration was the particular chalk-board black/gray that I created by mixing several bright colors. It was such a cool shade, compared to ivory black from the tube, that I wanted to play with that push and pull. Most of the actual painting from the drawing forward was subtracting the darks - painting on the beige tones.