Restructured Book. Observed Birds: Blackbird
£95.00
Observed Birds. Any facts discovered in this volume are there purely by accident, and any resemblance to actual birds, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Made from an old book, with a small cut out filled with a bird created using paper clay I made from the pages of old books. The book was destined for landfill – I hope it doesn’t mind having a new life.
Size: 14cm x 20.5cm x 3cm.
Regretfully, I do not sell my work outside of the UK.
1 in stock
“Blackbirds pose. All the time. Really – all the time. Even when you can’t see them, they are making the most beautiful shape they can manage with two legs and some wings. And when you can see them, when they land elegantly on a neatly manicured lawn or in the middle of the perfect country lane, they will flick themselves into that extraordinary blackbird ‘u’ shape then stylishly run off to the side of their imaginary stage. It has always rather irritated them that the swans got the ballet.
Blackbirds get up early. Their velvet outfits need to be pressed and brushed daily and it takes time to get the yellow eye-make-up right. They use the dawn chorus to do their vocal exercises and have a little rehearsal time.
Blackbirds are not really interested in group singing. When all around is urgent and frantic, when other birds are panting out their songs in springtime frenzy, the blackbird sings over them all with a lazy, laid-back jazz that makes grown men weep. Then, when all the other birds have finished for the day, when the sun is sinking and quietness falls, the blackbird sings its tale – melancholy, syncopated, heart-breaking. There is nothing common or garden about a blackbird. The blackbird is pure, opulent, theatre.”
