image taken from...
sigh.
i'm having extreme seller's remorse...
this is one of the pieces that will be at the sfmoma artist's gallery big hoo-haw warehouse sale. The title comes from a fragment of text on the page "the lapwing flies". when I titled it, I wasn't sure exactly what a lapwing was. I imagined those lacy winged mayflies that hover over quiet water.
(I usually don't read the text while I'm painting, not until afterwards.)
I painted this last week - researching today, I discovered a lapwing is actually a bird, and, much to my delight, there is a type of lapwing that has markings much like the painting.
the poem, the deserted village is by oliver goldsmith
(the book I used was a beautiful discarded rag-paper replica from the 1920's- I would never destroy an actual book in good condition). this book had never actually been read..the pages were still uncut.
looking up oliver goldsmith right now,
I found that he was..
"a likeable but disorganised character who once failed to emigrate to America because he missed the ferry".
also, that the term "goody two shoes" derives from a children's story he wrote.
(sometimes, it's delightful to let oneself be tugged through one rabbit hole after another on the internet)
- ...."No more thy glassy brook reflects the day,
- But, choked with sedges, works its weedy way;
- Along thy glades, a solitary guest,
- The hollow-sounding bittern guards its nest;
- Amidst thy desert walks the lapwing flies,
- And tires their echoes with unvaried cries."...
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