Talkin' bout my Friends

'Bird's Eye View' mixed media, Kathleen Faulkner

listening to NPR this morning talking about the price of wildlife 

What is a pelican worth?  Some said priceless others' thoughts ranged from $1.00 to $1000.00.  

Legally, BP is required to 'make the public whole' which means a pelican becomes worth one pelican. 

There are four spills in progress as you read this.  The latest is threatening Lake Michigan.   

'It's Good to Have a Running Start'

mixed media, Kathleen Faulkner

Hello

Hello.
I live in a tree near the Skagit river which flows into the Salish sea.  The view from here is breathtaking although I'm usually more interested in viewing my dinner.
Some days I can travel up to 300 miles.  I'm as fast as a car.  I am friends with the wind.  I play games with my friends, some of whom just stop in to visit on their way somewhere else.  I have a few friends that usually don't live here at all but, lately, seem to have taken a liking to this place.

 

Life is pretty good here on the Skagit.  Food is plentiful and  survival is fairly easy.

Since I am a bird, I don't understand politics but I do know about survival.    I know that it's warmer than it used to be and I find more shiny things to hoard than I used to.  Lately, though,  I've noticed more habitat for me and my friends thanks to Hedlins and others.








I've travelled around and I think this is the place to be.

We birds know about magic.

more..

top down: 'Crow' colored pencil; 'Heron' colored pencil; 'Skagit Geese' photograph;  all images: Kathleen Faulkner

The Protest

'Almost Cut my Lawn'

It was shortly after the gulf disaster had begun that I went out to mow the lawn.  I had been thinking about the spill and wondering what to do.

I view lawns in general as labor intensive patches of green, beautiful yet dull and time consuming.  My neighbors are very much loyal to it,  mowing sometimes as often as every other day.  

It was not a good day: the gulf gusher had knocked the wind out of me.  I looked over under the cedar and saw that the deer had been sleeping there.  It was then that I decided to stop mowing my lawn.  

I now have a resident deer and rabbit, many more birds, butterflies and other occasional visitors.  I'm sharing the food and, so far, have been ok with it.  I didn't have a good cherry crop this year but I didn't get any, anyway, the birds made sure of that.  The snails have taken out three of the five cabbage, two zucchini plants and the burdock but the peas were plentiful and I was able to feed myself, five friends, a deer and freeze some, too.

I did have a tinge of irritation when confronting the deer eating my raspberries, though.     

The whole feel of my yard has changed.  I like it better and so far, the neighbors haven't complained.                     

New Growth

'New Growth Series' brooch 2x2.25" fossilized walrus ivory, printer's ink

sterling silver; Kathleen Faulkner

One of my friends tended a bamboo farm. When he died, I inherited several large clumps.  I've always especially enjoyed bamboo.  It reminds me of many things.

Robert Sund was a bamboo man. His painting and calligraphy brushes,  his Pacific Rim persona, his living backdrop in the sitting area of the garden        

that continually grew

Japanese aesthetics, green tea and woodblocks.  It all spends time together in my bamboo thoughts.
  

It is a wonderful thing, bamboo and when I look at mine I also think of my friend from whom my gift came.

Cheers to you and the bamboo!

'Thank God For This Beer!' 
Robert Sund

Safe Harbor

'The View From Here' 20x32" oil pastel, Kathleen Faulkner

                                                     

'Safety in Numbers' 20x36" oil pastel, Kathleen Faulkner

'Sentinels' 20x32" oil pastel, Kathleen Faulkner

These three pieces are finally finished and delivered to the Port Angeles Fine Art Center. 

I had visited this place before about a month ago looking for inspiration for the theme,  'Safe Harbor'.  What I found was an outdoor sculpture forest that transported me into another world.  

Walking through these woods was magic.

I didn't want to leave and, later, I was unable to get it out of my mind.

It became my 'safe harbor'. 

Safe Harbor essay

Rock Solid

'
'Rock Solid'  20:x 2.5" sterling silver, beach rocks, elastic,

Kathleen Faulkner

Independence Day, 2010

I heard from a friend in Florida today.  He is down there cleaning birds as the gusher continues,  an immense and unimaginable horror: 76 days worth, so far.  The size of this disaster is larger than our entire Salish Sea region.  Imagine looking anywhere here and seeing oil.

It would have made a great science fiction thriller except for the fact that it is reality.  Truth is stranger than fiction  and scarier.

Most people are sick of hearing about it. We all know it and have seen the photos and it's a great big downer.

Now it's time for millions of birds to start their migration through that toxic death.  My friend is hopeful, though, as finally help is on the way: Super Skimmer.  We'll see.

And, even in the face of such a tragedy, there are still people demanding their American rights regardless the cost.

I ask the woman why she owns a Hummer.  She says,  "because I can."

'This is too big for anger

it's too big for blame

We stumble through history

so humanly lame'

Bruce Cockburn  from  'Postcards from Cambodia'