Bird Paintings

When a piece of art starts coming to life, it feels similar to the moment of catching a glimpse of a warbler. I try to control my excitement, stay as quiet as possible, and keep observing what it wants to do next. If I move in haste, I will just lose track of it. Anything important does not come to me at the time and pace of my choosing. Attentiveness and patience will eventually reveal everything that is hidden from me. That is the lesson I’ve been receiving from birds since I started birding.

Birds have taught me how to wait. Even when I lose sight of them, if only I wait patiently enough, they almost always reappear, and I get to truly see them. This second chance is the real thing because what looks like the first chance is actually a mere illusion of a chance. Since I realized this, I’ve begun to feel a kind of trust that the world will never fail to give me that second chance. I wonder if this sense of trust for the natural world could be the most primitive form of a belief.