Location Taken: Lake Michigan, Michigan
Time Taken: January 2011
You know, when I saw this tangle of feathers and branches in the snow, my artsy side started tingling.
There has to be some sort of Message in there! Really!
Let’s see… Finality of Death’s a classic, and the feathers scattered around make you think of birds losing them and the twigs are vaguely bone-like. And cold is frequently associated with Death, right? Nah, that’s stretching it too far, and it’s a message that far too many artists have used in the past. Gotta be original, right?
Hmmm… Bird feathers, twigs… Nests! Maybe there’s something in there about nests! Um, um, and it’s in the snow, which is not where you want your nest. So how about something about infertility, or maybe the pain of a child dying? But there’s not too much else backing those up…
Enough with the feathers, what about branches and snow? The branches are twisted and pointy. There might even be some really tiny thorns on them, too. I think I see them if I squint right. So how about a lesson about The Dangers of Life, or Walking the Gauntlet of Pain, or other fabulously highfalutin stuff like that?
…Yes, highfalutin is actually a word. It means fancy and pretentious and prone to use over-the-top language. You have to know these things if you want to be a Pretentious Artist!
Which I don’t. So I guess I’ll stop looking for messages and start looking at the interesting textures the combination of feathers, branches, and snow make instead…
