Birds

Ornology? 

Fly catcher

I saw a paradise fly catcher outside my office window on city campus

Patterns ... like elephant tracks

White Stinkwood in the morning - like elephant tracks

Elephant track in Imfolozi

First describe then explain ... first the 'what' then the 'why'. Does this mean that each blog post must have 2 paragraphs?

The White Stinkwood tree in front of the house provides perches and food for the birds and our early morning entertainment. We always have coffee and watch the sun rise and how the world wakes up. Staring at the stinkwood I noticed the twigs and the patterns that they make, and like when one stares at clouds and imagines all sorts of creatures, I see all sorts of things in these branches. I once saw a scorpion and it has now disappeared.

I think I knew that elephant tracks are like fingerprints, in that no two are the same and can be used to identify individuals, and Nunu confirmed it. I realised that these track patterns could be used as a reference when designing indigenous jewellery. A way of using elephants without being too explicit, which is one of the aims when trying to develop creative design; go beyond the obvious, beyond the cliche. Nunu then pointed out, to my delight, that the students have their own unique pattern references in the palm of their hands. 

Veerbruin duiwe...

My silwer duifies met rooi garing...

Sent from my HTC


riedwaan

daar's veerbruin duiwe in jou oe
met borsies soos sneeu so sag...

Mari Pete


 Allerliefste, ek stuur vir jou 'n rooiborsduif want niemand sal 'n boodskap wat rooi is skiet nie.

Breyten Breytenbach


Ek het hierdie gedig teegekom toe ek op Stellenbosch geswot het. Louise Gelderblom het dit vir my gewys en ek het nie geweet dat daar so 'n voel is nie. Altyd gedink dat dit 'maar net' 'n metafoor is vir gevoelens... en toe vind ek eers vandag uit dat dit 'n 'Laughing dove' is... wat el altyd geken het as 'n tortelduif.

White eye nest

a white eye nest with brand new hatchlings

the chicks!

A Cape white-eye has made a nest outside the lounge window and I hope I'll be able to see the chicks grow up and take off... Last year the chicks disappeared after a few days, presumably eaten by a snake. We keep the window shut, in case Skattebol, the cat, has them for lunch. 

Birds

An installation featuring gold and silver bird pendants and metallic prints.

The prints are done on pages from Jane Eyre.

a golden bird with red (sanguine) cotton...

Bird

..........

As he shows how he shaped

between finger and thumb

this small gold bird

leaving lines on its wings, I say,

did you know that our fingerprints

fade as we age – they cross over first?

Mari Pete

Silver birds morphing into fleur-de-lis type coupling devices... you know, the little bits that hold the bigger bits together... all displayed on logarithmic tables.



Assemblage

A golden bird 'leading' 3 crosses.... there must be some important meaning in here...

Doves

Two silver rings made by Marlene... using birds that I developed for my Masters.... in 1993!

I do think the title is a reference to the two of us... and that I think we could work really well together... if only we could work out a way!

What A pair!...

Doves

With the reference... A ring with a cast silver dove soldered on top

Doves

For printing... Some upside down drawings I did for piercing out, to use for embossings and prints..

Barter with birds

This one is for Samantha... $6

A bird print that I did which Samantha (a colleague) fancied. I owed her $6 from when she tested my Etsy shop and bought a rubber keyring.. This seems a fair trade...

Birds

Starting to play... Having the bits and pieces, enables me to start visualising possibilities...

Birds - pierced out

The plate ... a close-up of the pierced out birds... Quite beautiful by themselves... it often happens that I encounter pleasing aspect on the way to what I intend... I have now found a way of capturing these moments... In the past they would be lost...

Birds..

Wondering and pondering... Trying to decide how big the birds should be... I often have to make these type of 'small' decisions that I find quite difficult to finalise...

Birds on a plate

Updated ... The rings and drawing on top of one of Marlene's photoetched plates...

Birds

A combined effort ... Marlene's rings with my birds with her drawing of my idea for an embossing... The rings also have an Indian press moulded detail...