Crow and Celtic Knot - 2025 02 13

 

Graphite, pencil crayon, pen and ink, wax crayon on cardstock paper - 4" x 6"

A crow, in profile facing to the right, is somehow tipping backward on an inclined ground sloping down from left to right. Hanging in space, some indeterminant distance from the crow (is it right in front of it? Is it off in the distance?) is a Celtic knot, a single line of right angles and curves that traces an overlapping, underlapping path, it’s ending is also it’s beginning. The grid of pinpricks supporting the Celtic knot are visible.


Warmth emanates from the drawing in shades of orange and violet. Warm pastels are defined by dark edges and a murky sky. The ground is light against the darkness of the sky. White highlights show reflections of light emanating from outside the picture frame. 


The crow is off balance in relation to the Celtic knot, however, it’s next step, to bring it into balance, would swing it to face the knot and contemplate its presence more fully. The knot is drawing the crow’s eyeline away from the decline ahead, and outward, toward the ineffable emptiness of sky. The emptiness of the sky is filled with the hovering Celtic knot. Like a beacon, a star, or the full moon that was lighting like a spotlight from the west at 430 this morning.


I feel off balance, shaken to the core by the failure of our social systems to protect ourselves from the pillaging and rampages of the wealthiest class in the history of humanity. Generations of education, industry, hope and resilience are being put to the test to save democracy and create an egalitarian social order.


Each day I search for meaning, significance, a way to understand the tasks on my to do list in the context of human rights abuse, genocide, and wealth hoarding. I find comfort in small creative works, works that may not seem significant in their singularity, but aggregate into a force of resilience and hope. Each day, I invest time and energy in ‘making special’ a very ordinary life to make my contribution to our aggregate of human agency and ingenuity.


Today it is a small drawing on a card, a crow and a Celtic knot.

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