Poster Image
$20
Item#: 2005SYR04
Purchase Details
11x17-inches, printed on heavy weight (100-pound) Hammermill cover paper. We package each print with a piece of chipboard in a clear plastic sleeve.
You also receive…
An information page with photos of the artist and poet, and hand-written comments from each.
Medium- and large-format posters are available by custom order. Contact us for details.
Poem Inspiration Location
Sparrows Fight for Crumbs
poster information
Description
Sparrows fight for crumbs
Dropped by alfresco diner
In Armory Square
I was downtown with my daughter, Dierdre, and we were sitting out at one of the places in Armory Square, having dinner. We tend to go downtown when the weather is warm. We like to go to Kitty Hoynes, which has outdoor tables, or to the Dinosaur. Or we'll go down to the Sound Garden for music.
Anyway, it was one of those nice evenings, when it stayed light long, and we were just kicking back and watching what was going on around us. The sparrows were over by the curb and they were fighting for little crumbs. There was one particular sparrow that the rest were picking on. I don't know why. The other sparrows seemed to be having a good time, but as soon as this one tried to join in, they would chase him away.
I like to have action in my paintings, and I enjoy creating characters to play roles in the illustrations. That's my favorite part of illustration”the process of drawing, developing a character, and pushing it, until it reaches exactly what I envision.
I wanted to keep the sparrows semi-realistic, but show emotion in their faces. I looked at a lot of pictures of sparrows because I like to draw from reality before I push it to something cartoony. Then, for reference, I copied my own expressions from a mirror for the eyes and cheekbones of the sparrows.
All of them have a sinister look in their faces, because they're fighting. One of them is getting away with a wingful of crumbs, so I wanted to make him look happy and mischievous. For the rest, I made angry, malicious faces.