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| from the series Listening to Raven |
According to Native American lore, Raven is the bringer of magic. He is my birth month totem and for three years we've engaged in an ongoing dialogue of art and story.
I saw no ravens in my three years of river paddling with alligators and birds in Florida, but once I made the decision to move to New Mexico, Raven came to see me in my tropical garden. Always chased by a noisy escort of mockingbirds and blue jays, Raven would perch on the turquoise-colored wood railing of my front porch to watch me draw. If he couldn’t find me, he would caw and dance on the little tin roof covering back stairs. I'd come out and he’d cock his head to get a good look. That bird never missed a day for weeks.
A friend of mine who is a lay minister tells me that somewhere in the bible a visit from a raven can mean prosperity and the Medicine Wheel offers the same possibility. Here is a place for people to unbind themselves, to expand their hearing and seeing, both inward and outward, in the vast beauty of a limitless sky.
For another glimpse of Raven, look at Listening To Raven- Drawings,Myths & Realities
This drawing is on 10" x 14" paper using pen, pencil, heart and mind.
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9 comments:
As always, a lovely, lyrical story to accompany a beautiful piece of art. I hope the "wild west" appreciates the jewel it has in it's midst.
. . . just as ravens appear unexpectedly here in New Mexico, Surdut's raven appears to me so quickly and hauntingly on paper. As her accompanying essay suggests, this is no casual encounter for her. The intimacy I see between woman and raven, not to mention intelligence, makes me eager to see the story and drawings unfold into a kind of sly desert epic. In short, you should like this (and more to come?) because the skill is warmly authentic and remarkably memorable. The raven is in tender hands.
Love these drawings Beth. Kim
Planet Beth is a far, far better place than the world we inhabit. I look forward to every visit and savor the trip long afterwards.
I love the Raven story and the art! Beth, enables the reader to be aware of, and enjoy the beauty that surrounds us, but which we rarely take time to notice. What a wonderful talent she is!
Gloria
I am told that Charles Dickens had a pet Raven. In fact, that is what inspired Poe to write his poem. There must be something about the bird that triggers artistic genius. Beth is no exception.
Linda Goodman
Form follows content. I am delightfully impressed with Beth's transition from abstract Florida fish to the feathered forms of Corvids. I am in fact suprised at the depth of her talent in the formation of porportion and detail. But neither of these subtract from the whimisical nature of her mind translated through these wonderful drawings and stories. I hope that the murder of Santa Fe's urban crows continues to have their story told by surdut's skill.
A great story Beth, and your drawing beautifully captures the character... of Raven.
Thanks.
I did not meet the Sarasota crow. I was blessed to see the early renderings of his raven cousin on Beth's lanai. It appears that crow is to creek as raven is to desert with Beth the beautiful bridging the two. So happy that their communications transited Beth's creativity from one creative environment to another.
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