Rob Dunlavey @ blogger

Blog move

2021-01-07T11:45:00.002-05:00

My blog, going forward has been moved under the hood to robd.com/blog. Check it out and have fun.

Birds Will Save Us

2020-09-20T17:47:00.003-04:00

07-17-16g

2008
latex on canvas

2008
oil, latex on canvas

Keep On Truckin'

2020-08-29T16:39:00.003-04:00

A colorful but uneasy sunset

the shadows lengthen

One point perspective: A road. Is that a foot I see?

It is a foot and it is attached to this person. I wonder where he is going?

08-05-20c
mixed media

A Chance Encounter?

2020-08-11T12:35:00.001-04:00

A chance encounter?

Neither of these characters needs to be here: up a tree and snooping around. But they are. I suspect their snooping is for different reasons …but maybe not. Curiosity is a relatively low risk survival strategy.

03-16-20a
mixed media

detail

Bewildered Squirrels

2020-07-08T21:19:00.002-04:00

It's just your garden-variety environmental destruction…

A surprised squirrel

Disbelief!

What happened?

Bewildered Squirrels
06-26-20a

Thinking, thinking…

2020-05-31T20:04:00.003-04:00

A bird is thinking…

03-07-20a

A bird is meditating…

01-13-19b

A bird is studying…

06-11-19a

A bird is looking out to sea…

07-01-19a

A bird is working…

A bird is sleeping…

03-02-18c

Early Bird

2020-05-19T06:48:00.000-04:00

05-12-20a
ink, watercolor, collage

I'm an early bird and so are my cats. I resist their breakfast summons until I hear the robins chattering outside. The sun is just getting up too but it seems to linger under the covers like I do. The world spins a little more and soon enough, as the coffee gets brewed and the cats get fed, the sun casts a low broad beam into my world.

In this spring, like no other in my memory, time moves extraordinarily slowly at times. I mark off the days of quarantine on my calendar. Since mid-March I've dotted my days in rainbow colors and I've watched the maple buds gradually unfurl outside my sunward window. Bumps on the branches elongate and send out structures to capture the sun's energy. Leaves begin like errant unfastened parasols. Who left you open like that? Is it bad luck? Eventually, day by day their black silhouettes crowd and obscure the view out my studio window. I dot more days and we don our masks.

The sun gets up earlier and earlier each day. I try to keep the cats to a schedule of not getting me out of bed earlier than 5:00 A.M. Sometimes rain clouds and cold weather help us all pretend that it's only early March. It has been a cold and wet spring. But the leaves can't wait and snuggle in their beds. Their life is to be out catching the sunlight and there is no choice. So, like the pandemic perhaps, I welcome the intrusion (as I have before) and marvel at the patchwork of new green leaves that filter sunlight into my space. This too shall pass! The sun seeks me out and admonishes me… slothful sluggard! Go forth and greet the day! Make hay!

Mossy Forest

2020-05-01T21:26:00.004-04:00

Trees, old souls

Moss cushions, pillows, sprouts

Where did all the seeds go?

04-30-20a
mixed media

Pandemic Pictures 01

2020-04-10T21:13:00.003-04:00

These all have some poetic or pointed specificity to our current predicament.

~~Stay safe~~ and stay sane

an uninvited guest (detail)

Roof Party
03-27-20a

03-29-20a

Cloudy with a Chance of Panic
03-31-20a

Troublesome bouquet
04-01-20b

Looking for Answers
03-16-20a

Procession
03-21-20a

03-21-20a
detail

Cloudy With a Chance of Panic

2020-03-31T10:04:00.000-04:00

They're leaving in droves…

Evacuation!

The skies are full…

although some will remain…

Who will sing with me?

Cloudy with a Chance of Panic
03-31-20
ink, pencil, watercolor

Crystal Cities

2020-03-29T07:01:00.001-04:00

Architecture is the stage where our lives as individuals and as communities takes shape. In this moment in time where cities and individuals weigh and tug at our hearts, let's cherish communities of new and old mutual dependence.

Below: a few Crystal Cities paintings (2017 vintage).

More here and here.

12-20-17a

12-31-17c

01-13-17a

02-06-17b

02-09-17a

02-24-17b

03-08-17b

doodles (Crystal Cities)

2020-03-18T07:10:00.003-04:00

I have hundreds of these types of drawings. 😍

01-05-20doodle-15

01-12-20doodle-07

05-12-19doodle-01

09-15-19doodle-03

10-27-19doodle-11

Exile

2020-03-12T11:47:00.003-04:00

A bird in a house…

He's fallen asleep cradling a lute.

In the distance, a sailing ship.

07-10-17a
mixed media

Blinded Owl

2020-03-08T15:58:00.003-04:00

"Blinded Machine-Age Owl"
03-08-20a
collage, ink, colored pencil

Borrowing, with modifications, a title from Morris Graves's oeuvre.

Bird Maddened by the Sound of Machinery in the Air

Bird Maddened by Machine Age Noise

Bird Maddened by Loneliness

Blind Bird

Spring with Machine Age Noise No. 4

etc.

After the Apocalypse

2020-02-21T12:10:00.002-05:00

The moon is rising

and a crew of feathered admirers has assembled.

The stars shine brightly but not as brightly as the moon.

The Moon and its Admirers
02-20-2020
watercolor, mixed media

Once the people are all gone and the Earth gains its equilibrium, the Moon will still be admired.

Flying Birds

2020-02-17T20:52:00.001-05:00

01-06-18a

01-05-18a

01-23-18a

03-28-18b

05-19-18a

05-27-18-swallows

06-01-18a

07-17-18a

09-01-18b

10-07-18a

Waiting…

2020-02-14T21:38:00.001-05:00

Waiting for things to blow over…

02-03-20a

detail

Laocoön

2020-02-06T17:14:00.003-05:00

My personal paintings never start with an idea or sketch. I trust that something will be evoked in the process. I just have to be patient. The black zig-zag lines in the sky became the nasty serpents and Laocoön showed up.

"Laocoön"
02-02-20a

"Laocoön"
The famous and oft-copied Greek statue of the ill-fated Trojan priest and his sons having a bad day

Off camera

2020-01-25T07:05:00.001-05:00

01-22-20a
ink, acrylic paint

These desperadoes need to talk over some important business. Whatever could it be that they seek the anonymity somewhere outside the picture frame. The nerve! We have a right to know. Information wants to be free!

Then again, there are probably bigger problems to worry about within your field of view. Quite closely as a matter of fact. What do you make of that?

Birds on Scaffolds

2020-01-15T16:51:00.003-05:00

01-09-20a

01-11-20a

01-15-20b

New Year's drawings: sublime & ridiculous

2020-01-01T21:39:00.001-05:00

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Happy Reindeer

2019-12-26T15:02:00.002-05:00

12-24-19doodle-08

Halibut Point

2019-12-19T06:20:00.001-05:00

Walk through the brambles of Halibut Point on Cape Ann.

On a summer day, you're likely to find a group of local people fishing

or fussing with their tackle.

Fishing at Halibut Point
12-11-19b
pastel, ink, watercolor

Recent Crystal Cities

2019-11-22T17:45:00.000-05:00

Lots more Crystal Cities here.

A nice Crystal Cities book here.

11-10-19a

11-12-19a

10-30-19a

10-28-19a

Bored King
10-25-19d

Diderot's stairs
10-13-19a

Degas and Marie van Goethem
10-08-19a

10-03-19b

Moon Viewing party for Dodos
10-03-19a

Lots more Crystal Cities here.

A nice Crystal Cities book here.

Migrating Owls

2019-11-08T11:13:00.000-05:00

One

Two

Three owls…

Two sparrows

One sparrow flies over the sea

A flock of birds migrate together over the wide ocean.
11-03-19b
mixed media