It All Started With A Bird
The Committee 2020
Welcome to my first journal post! In this journal, I’ll share inspiration, artwork, studies, experiments, and whatever else I may get up to. It’ll be my journey in starting a design and artist studio. I’m at the beginning of transitioning from what I was doing to what I want to do now.
Why am I bothering to share this, you ask? I thought it might give someone in a similar situation a little validation. If you’re feeling the same way, then know you’re not alone. Also, sharing is more fun than working in a vacuum.
This all started in 2020, but I had no idea I was about to choose a different path at the time. I began feeling that I needed to make a major change while my partner and I were house-sitting for some friends up in the Catskills. They were doing us a favor since it was a great way to get out of Brooklyn during the height of the pandemic.
A gathering of vultures like this is called a “committee”
At this time, I was working remotely in a very toxic work environment. It wasn’t the first time I’ve encountered this in my career but I kept hopping to similar jobs knowing it felt wrong. As I clicked away on my laptop to find a new job, I saw this tree filled with vultures on the neighboring land. It all became clear that I needed something different after noticing and observing these birds.
At first, it felt ominous, especially since the neighboring land is a cemetery. “What a cliche.”, I thought. Silently, they basked in the sun with their wings held out, allowing the solar energy to cleanse them. They were patiently waiting together, for what, I don’t know.
A storm started to roll in over the mountain as they quietly jumped up and gained lift into the clouds above. As they gracefully circled higher and higher, I thought, “Take me with you!” I put my laptop away, pulled out a pen and some paper, and started to draw them. This is something I haven’t done in a very long time.
This is a stippling technique, which took hours for the image to appear.
Something clicked and brought back that feeling of inspiration I had lost long ago. I thought, how odd! It took some ominous birds to show me I need to change direction before I’m swallowed into more years of toxic situations.
Since then, I put these past couple of pandemic years to use. I’ve been chipping away at my new trajectory. It feels right. I can’t wait to see how far I can go!
