Bird Lady:)

Hallow:)

I am so totally a bird lady at heart. And it has nothing to do with keeping birds, really. The older I get, the more I feel as though my heart is winged and birdlike, if that makes any sense to you. I've started my Bird Lady collection of small paintings, and oh how I love it. This is perhaps one of the most engaging and lovely experiences I've had while making something. This is a little bit of one of the first images. I've also included "Blu" in this post, after a bit of indecisive fidgeting. *Eep!* I'm both terribly eager and terribly afraid to post what I've completed so far! Anyway, I hope you love. There will be more, I promise!

Bananaquit Love, Watercolour, Pen and Ink

Blu, Watercolour, pen and ink

shine hard

A quick drawing I did over the weekend. I love the girl's expression, though it's utterly unplanned <3 

Girl with the flowers

Sharing a new piece I did earlier this week. I haven't had the time draw in awhile. Commissions and projects are lovely, but every now and then you need to time to feel out the shapes and textures in your own heart. This one I enjoyed doing so much... and I am excited to share. Hope you like <3

Dani

When the Fire Comes

excerpt from When the Fire Comes

Now my smile will not be washed pretty.

There is ash in my throat

from the last lie I lit.

Who shall I be now?

I’ve run out of clean faces to wear,

this skin hurts when I dream.

All my wings won’t fit in this room,

bones must be broken,

cries must be bundled in sheets,

a match will be struck in my sleep.

When the fire comes, who knows what will burn?

....

Mother in the Morning

Was recently re-reading Mother in the Morning. The impact this little poem had always startles me, when I really think about it. It was my first piece accepted for publication (Bim, May '09) and was a contender for Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul. I love it so dearly because it reminds me of those early days of writing, the sense of discovery, that tremulous feeling of being just on the edge of something. Thought I'd share it here, along with a drawing.

Much love.
Dani

Mother in the Morning

Mother sips tea in her garden on mornings,

abandoning the kitchen that echoes with breakfast,

lunch kits, laces untied, and the dripping faucet.

She sits on a cracked footstool in complete silence

as the heat from the teacup rises up

whispering warm, comforting secrets

only she can understand.

There are sharp things in the ground

and her hands are soft

yet she never wears gloves.

She is not afraid of the damp, dark earth

with its shards of buried glass and crawling creatures.

She has planted hope with her own hands,

seen it grow tall, and bright with butterflies.

When my mother’s hands are in the dew- damp dirt

and she is fragile in the quiet morning light

I can see the shapes of sharp things buried in her.

I realize how the fluorescent kitchen light dims her,

hides that secret flower she is growing

That can only be seen in morning light,

and blooms only when she does.

Shape and Blindness

This piece is currently for sale, already framed. If you're interested, give me a shout nah? dboodoofortune@live.com. Feel free to share this with others who may dig it too.


Blessings,
~D

Running

...

I dreamt we ran across the world

barefoot, belly full of joy

our feet like wings

bearing us on concrete clouds.

You showed me the vastness of space,

whispered in my ear

"Run..."

Then the same ground fell away

beneath our feet

and there was water, 

vast and dark

filled with one eyed creatures

leaping and wailing.

Still we ran,

our legs like cannons

shooting into the wet, deep earth

like violent stars

Till we reached its end.

We stood at the silent, trembling edge

every breath an explosion in the stillness

and I woke, shocked by air and space,

your whispered words still on my skin.

...

2004

Detail, Watercolour Portrait of Kevin

We're still running, love.

Happy Birthday.

~Dani