Activity

These were the first two birds in the series “ebb & flood collection 2020”. One day I decided to print these in a double-sided glossy A5 pamphlet (‘mini-poster’). And, for the first time since elementary school, I tried my hand at writing haiku’s. I distributed these free mini-posters to friends and neighbors (in the Netherlands), just to reach out and start conversations. And these were great conversations. We had all been in lockdown so long by then that just chatting at the door (even keeping distance) was special, in an everyday kind of way.

I had so thoroughly enjoyed talking with the neighbors when I handed out the pamphlets I had printed, that I decided to arrange a walk-through corona-proof garden exhibition on Easter Monday. This came at a time when we were all still in strict lockdown, so only my neighbors came.

On the day, all of the money that came in from the paintings I sold went to help Rethoboth orphanage in South Africa.

The first shorebirds I painted were all standing alone. Then I recalled the many groups of birds I also regularly saw, and I began to also paint groups. This group, painted from a photo in California, reflects my resistance to the fact that “the virus” seemed to lead many of us down the path of looking suspiciously at others.

Birds have such attitudes. I remember the first time I heard that robins are territorial.

When walking on the beach in California last March (before the C-word was more than a blip on the horizon), I was inspired by the many ways the little shorebirds have adapted to the ebb and flood. Some stand poised alone, and others move quickly with their clan– but all seem to be flexible to respond to the incoming or outgoing waves. Their resilience led me to reflect on how we respond to the challenges of the virus among us. Like the ebb and flood at the beach, the challenges of this time roll into the shore of our experience.

And so, I began to paint shorebirds– often from photographs taken in California, or at Dishoek, a beach in the Netherlands. One thing led to another.. but that is for another post (wave watching together).

“I think that I will never see a poem as lovely as a tree”

Joyce Kilmer