Woman and Quail

 

 

A few days ago I posted an essay on my literary blog titled “The Girls with Green Eyes” based on impressions based on a 1964 British movie (https://vahezen.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-girl-with-green-eyes.html). I received a number of lovely emails from readers from Asia to Northern Europe.  Since the green eyes did touch a nerve in these readers, I wondered if I could translate my essay into a visual expression.

So, back to my work studio and my painting explorations using wild hare skin as canvas.

Here is the starting point

Keeping the movie in mind, I projected a pair of innocent yet capricious eyes upon the hare skin

Contrary to my previous paintings, I did not want to use rabbit fur in this painting. Instead, I opted for desert quail from the desert.  Here is a stock photo of the AZ Gambel quail

Why? Because the AZ Gambel quail are elusive, smart in an avian way, and their feathers blend perfectly with the desert colours for camouflage. These characteristics were also among the ones the girl in the movie cherished.

So, here is the first arrangement of the feathers to somehow frame and camouflage

And a second iteration

I opted for the latter as most germane to the shape of the “canvas” and the story I wanted to tell

 When I framed the painting, I realised that the green eyes were almost camouflaged among the quail feathers. Perfectly adequate, albeit not intended, to the theme and materials I used for this painting.

November 26, 2023

©Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2023