Mixed media: Weird Bird
During my childhood my parents kept a green parakeet named "Twinkle" in a bird cage by a window in the kitchen. Twinkle chirped happily along and occasionally my dad closed doors and let Twinkle out to fly. Thinking back I wonder if it scared the bird as much as me, he swooped and dove so frantically. Or, if Twinkle relished those experiences of freedom and wing-stretching that probably were Dad's intentions. In any case, it was on Dad's hand or shoulder Twinkle would light at the end of such adventures. Sometimes he'd lightly peck at the outgrowth on Dad's cheek which to my childhood eyes translated to a kiss. Inevitably, of course, one morning my parents found Twinkle motionless on the floor of the cage, forever asleep.
But all that is an afterthought. When I made this little mixed media piece I was reminded of a "play" I had a role in during childhood. For a mother and daughter banquet one spring the church pastor dressed as an owl and we little girls dressed as birds in costumes our mothers had made. I was convinced I was, for a moment in time, a bird who also happened to be a girl.
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