papa pájaro

I want to share with you a small piece I did for my dad Javier... I call it pájaro.

"pajaro" Aug 2010 acrylic & watercolor on panel, 10"X8"   click to view

My dad's birthday was yesterday and we are celebrating his 60 years alive.  He's a young dad to me, an older dad to my lil' bro Xman, a great dad to a us both.  In 1987, when I was about 12 yrs old, the age Xman is now, I made a painting of a ruby throated humming bird for my dad on his 37th Bday.  It was my last oil painting I ever did.  I grew up painting with oils... my mom hooked me up at 7 years old with a slew of brushes, canvases, oil mediums, turpentine, and tubes of paint... and I painted with them until I dropped painting during middle school (asterisk)... years later in college when I picked up a brush again I took the safe route with acrylics.

ruby throated hummingbird, Aug 1987, oil on panel, 10"X8"
hanging in my dad's "museum" wall     click to view

My dad loves birds.  He loves to watch them, study them, and talk to them.  Which is why I chose a bird as a subject that summer of 1987 to paint for him.  This year when making something for his Bday, it came back to me the memory of that painting from years ago and I knew that a bird was coming through for this piece.  Unlike last time though, when I sourced the hummingbird from a bird book, this time I simply allowed an imagined creature to come through my fingertips to create a unique bird species from more of a dream world ...since my dad also has always had a strong affection for dreaming.

My dad likes to think of himself as an old bird ...silly dad, what you are is beautifully alive like a bird in flight, soaring always to greater heights, loving to observe all of life, loving all of humanity.  Your noble heart has infused my own. Thank you dad, I celebrate you and I love you!

click to view

written during
week 18 "mapa"

∞ ceci

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