The Crows

I moved into a neighbourhood late last summer that hosts a murder (or few) of crows. This is active crow country and after I posted a video of numerous crows perched high in a tree in front of my place, cawing their hearts out, my thoughtful friend Leyla sent me this poem about crows by Mary Oliver.

I see them in trees, or on ledges of buildings,
as cheerful as saints, or thieves of the small job
who have been, one more night, successful—
and like all successes, it turns my thoughts to myself.

(An excerpt of Mary Oliver’s Crows)

I have found the crows to be fascinating and full of personality. I have made a daily practice of observing them and befriending them. I read that they will sometimes leave gifts for the people they like and I would be overjoyed if that happened to me one day. A person can dream.

Last fall, before my morning walks with Poppy, I began the practice of filling my coat pocket with freeze dried chicken or salmon dog treats (in a reusable ziplock cause p.u.), and tossing them to the crows I saw while walking my daily route. They grew bold with me quickly and started escorting me home, one crow flying low (at my knee height) alongside me on the road while I walked on the sidewalk with Poppy. I continue to feed the crows, they continue to do this, and I continue to be tickled. They also perch on wires above me and click and caw. They are not shy, they let their presence be known and will sometimes land directly in my path, surprisingly close, and caw their demand for treats. I always oblige because I am delighted that they interact with me. They swoop low over my head and saucily run close to me to snatch up the treats I toss. I am endlessly amused by their funny little struts.

In the winter, I added a verbal cue to my daily crow feeding practice and I began saying “hello hello” every time I handed out a treat. After a few months of this practice, one morning I heard a tiny, high pitched “hello.” My smile most certainly reached from ear to ear that day. Over the course of the winter, I received three “hellos.”

One morning this spring, I was walking with Poppy on my usual route and from way up above me I heard a high pitched “hello,” called over and over again. A man taking out his green bin a few houses down also heard and stopped to look up and see where it was coming from. I was looking around too, and I couldn’t see the crow who was saying hello, but I knew it was for me.

I think I might be getting a reputation in my neighbourhood. And not just with the crows! Hahaha!

Daily Practice

It’s raining here today where I live and it is making me reflect upon my daily practices. It took me a very long time to find daily practices that would work for me, years of trying really. A daily practice is something that I longed for but could never seem to maintain. I suppose this is likely because I was forcing it rather than letting it come naturally to me. Now that I have been able to maintain a daily practice of some sort for several years, I have acquired a few and they have become some of the joys of my life, driving and supporting the peacefulness of my daily rhythm. I have also incorporated my daily dog walks with Poppy into my daily practice. Perhaps this is why, on this rainy day, I feel a little restless postponing our walk, hoping for a clearing, hopeful for a beam of sun. On the days when Poppy’s walks are skipped or delayed, like on the days we were snowed in during the state of emergency in February, she looks at me as if I have committed the ultimate betrayal - tragic, huffing and oh so sad. Poppy doesn’t know it’s hard for me too! Especially on this day when I am waiting for some art supplies to be delivered so I can continue my daily indoor practice! Writing in my journal is my longest standing almost-daily practice, I am a life long journal keeper but now I need more! Physical exercise, emotional exercise and creative/intellectual exercise are the three keys I have discovered for maintaining a peaceful and satisfying daily life!

Colour and California

I was very fortunate to recently spend a month on residency in Santa Monica, California. I had a live/work space one light rail stop from the beach and a bicycle in a colour I love. I spent a tremendous amount of time at the beach and a great deal of time getting to know the city of Santa Monica. I have spent a fair bit of time in California, usually based in Los Angeles with a handful of days spent on the coast, usually Venice. I have a deep love for the Venice/Santa Monica boardwalk and make it a point to spend time there whenever I am in town. It was such a pleasure to base myself near this favourite place for the duration of my trip and visit LA proper instead. I walked, biked and rode the train everywhere I went, carrying a small foraging kit comprised of bonsai shears and pruning shears in a mesh bag. I would collect any botanical material that caught my eye after identifying it with a plant app on my phone. I would then place the mesh bag of botanics in my handbag to process when I returned to my studio.

Some of the inks and anthotypes I made

I processed the botanics I collected into inks. It was conceptually a sort of loose California extension of my Little library of foraged inks projects where I shared my botanical inks with the public in mostly organized spaces and once in the wild. In California I shared my ink with the public in Santa Monica during an open studio for Frieze Art Fair at the beginning of my stay. I shared the inks again at the end of my stay with a group of adults and children who first encountered my work during the Frieze open house and liked it so much they wanted to try it again! The group of about six children and ten adults painted with inks and made anthotypes with the bay door open on a bit of a blustery Santa Monica day. It was a pleasure to share my work with this group and the man who arranged the afternoon gifted me with five beautiful hand picked books focusing on botanical art, concepts, theories and stewardship practices. It was such a thoughtful gift. He also gifted me a cellulose (a type of plastic made from plants) fountain pen and mechanical pencil set from the 1940s. I was so surprised by these unexpected treats!

A gift of books. I found the vintage copy of California Spring Wildflowers at The Last Bookstore, one of my favourite bookstores in LA. I also love Skylight Books, in Los Feliz.

Many people were generous with me while I visited California and I have been telling anyone who will listen how friendly/lovely I find the majority of Californians for years. It is one of the things that keeps on bringing me back there, nearly annually, since 2012 when I went for the first time. This time I was put in contact with an artist called Kim Russo who also collects and processes wild pigments out of her home studio in Topanga Canyon. I was lucky enough to have Kim come for a studio visit with me and then on another day she took me into the mountains of Topanga where we gathered sour grass, oak gall and acorn caps to process into inks.

Sour grass I harvested with Kim in Topanga Canyon ready to be pressed in my flowers press

I also met a number of international artists who were concurrently residents at the arts complex where I was stationed. Cristallina Fischetti is a painter from London who also hosts a weekly podcast called Hype A on which she interviews artists about their artistic practices. Cristallina invited me to be the first guest from the arts complex on her podcast and we had a lovely studio visit followed by an on air conversation about my work and Unama’ki.

It’s good to be back home again in Unama’ki. But I do miss the warmth and proximity to the beach!