the velocity of wings {a painting}

I've hesitated to show pictures of this painting because I'm not sure if it's finished yet - and because the images on screen don't quite capture her presence in person anyway.

I have stacks of paintings and such in both rooms of my studio, but for some reason, this is the one that stops visitors - and makes them pause.

It's curious to me, because I still feel a little detached from it - or just... not complete yet. I'm not sure if that's an internal understanding or an external need - like little touches here and there.

It's OK not knowing.

So she hangs around where I can see her regularly as her impression and story change with the light and shadows of the day. I'm watching... and listening {in}. Last night, she got a place on the wall in my freshened up studio.

Then today, I see this quote from a book I devoured a couple of years ago...

Now, in a shift of light, the shadows of birds are more pronounced on the gallery’s white wall. The shadow of each bird is speaking to me. Each shadow doubles the velocity, ferocity of forms. The shadow, my shadow now merges with theirs. Descension. Ascension. The velocity of wings creates the whisper to awaken…. I want to feel both the beauty and the pain of the age we are living in. I want to survive my life without becoming numb. I want to speak and comprehend words of wounding without having these words become the landscape where I dwell. I want to possess a light touch that can elevate darkness to the realm of stars." ~ Terry Tempest Williams, When Women Were Birds