"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

Hello Friends!

Friends, Romans, countrymen...y'all. Foodies, gardeners, artists and collectors - let's gather together to share and possibly learn a thing or two in the mix.

Donna Baker

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Caw Caw Cawing


If you've read my blog for any length of time, you'll know how I love birds.  Crows in particular hold a fascination for me.  Don't know why.  Be that as it may, I've been feeding the crows lately and they are coming to eat.  There is a post in the field that I leave dog food and trinkets on.  Then, I go back home and call them, sounding like a mad lady, cawing loudly.  They come, though I wonder what they think of my poor imitation.  The above crow is carved from wood as a decoy.


Above is an oil painting I did called The Crow Picnic.


This young crow is made of paper mache and holds on to the bucking life-sized horse in my dining room.


The above is a wool wall hanging I purchased hung over a doorway.


Not matter what I did, I could not photograph this gouache I painted.  Guess it is the convex glass in the old frame.


Another old crow decoy.


A photo I took of a Parisian crow last trip to France.  Wonder if city crows are more sophisticated than my country crows?


Here is a crow feather.  Crows are supposed to be very intelligent, but this one wasn't.  He and a friend were fighting and teasing an owl in the trees out front.  Next morning, I found a dead crow on the ground where the fight took place.
Native Americans are very superstitious about crows and ravens.  The mean old woman down the lane shoots them and hangs them upside down in her trees, I guess as a way to scare crows away.

But, as I type this, a crow is cawing loudly out my backdoor, which has never happened.  Seems maybe, they are calling me.

8 comments:

RachelD said...

Me, too, on the BIRDS! Any kind, I'll answer in my best imitation of whatever they said, even if it's just words or whistles. And I ALWAYS, always, want there to be a bottle of wine, a roast chicken (I know, but I'll bet they'd eat it), a loaf of bread and a bunch of grapes spilling out of that hamper.

says rachel, of the Heckle and Jeckle childhood, and who patterns all picnics after theirs, the epitome of elegance

PS I've seen the horse on your sidebar, and probably scanned over "dining room," but LIFE-SIZE?? Where do you dine, Hon,---Versailles?

donna baker said...

Well, it's a yearling Rachel, so a tad smaller than an adult. It is up against the dining room windows so it doesn't take up that much space. I made quite a few life-sized pieces, but soon found out they take up too much space, so I quit making them. Wasn't interested in small pieces and the large ones take so much time to do. I sold a couple of them, but they are hard to transport. You learn as you go. By the last one, I learned to make it in pieces so it wouldn't be so hard to ship.

La Table De Nana said...

You are SO talented..I would be painting all day..

I don't love crows:(

I love your papier maché though..
Here crows are a bit of a nuisance..they caw caw endlessly some years and scare smaller sweeter birds away..the last couple of years have been better..
But they look great at your place:)

donna baker said...

Monique, they are scavengers - throwbacks from dinosaurs I think. I seem them eating carrion and road kill along the highways so I think they prefer meat. I've had peacocks so their noise doesn't bother me, yet. I was shocked when I heard one outside my door as they've never come so close. Could they really be that smart? Don't think I'd like to have them cawing on the back porch. They are the watchdogs of the farm - the first to alert when any varmints or humans are coming. The place I'm feeding them is far enough from the house, but I may be chunking rocks at them if they get after my sweet little chickadees.

Doc said...

Good to hear I am not the only crow enthusiast. They are very inquisitive; remind me of my grandkids in more ways than one. I keep a Styrofoam wreath outside and every time I go for a walk I find a crow feather that I stick into the wreath. I will soon have to buy another wreath.

donna baker said...

Doc, a fellow crow enthusiast. We'll have to swap stories. Thought I just saw one fly past the front windows, but it was a large woodpecker. It's not like I don't have enough to do in the mornings, now add feeding crows to the list.

jerilanders said...

Donna I love your crow painting! Geez, I saw that crow decoy and a memory came to me; I had one just like that, I haven't a clue where it is though, wish I could find it. We've been seeing dozens of crows this week, love that huge silhouette in the sky, a great bird indeed.

donna baker said...

Thank you so Jeri. We do have much in common - magpies by nature.