A small death at the convent

After a wonderful early evening concert held in the cloisters at the convento in Los Angeles, just down the hill from Jimena, I imagined a dead goat (I know, I am strange like that :-)) attracting down the griffin vultures we have here, looking for a tasty meal. I wanted to juxtapose the beauty of the church with the image of death, but showing the wonderful recycling that the vultures do here! I have no idea if they have ever in reality landed on the church roof…..This is an A1 canvas (a bit puckered in the corner – I must try and fix that!) with mixed media – mostly acrylics and felt pens for the detailed bits.

The found feather

This feather was found on one of many lovely walks in the area. It is a just quick sketch using pencil.

I like to think it belonged to a Griffin Vulture, or similar large bird. It IS quite a large feather, and these birds are nearly always around, sitting on the rocks in the sun, or soaring above you on a hot air thermal. I managed to snap these with my new whizzy camera.

 

I have been very busy with my course, doing lots of sketching and painting but nothing really to put up on here. But I have been missed by at least one person, so thank you, the amazing Jo Freehand – always worth checking out what she has done each day! https://dailyrecord365.wordpress.com/ I am trying to keep up with all your blogs but with some of you posting daily, even several times a day, it can get overwhelming! But I am still here and will come and visit you soon 🙂

The basura birds of Andalucia a.k.a. Griffin Vultures

Friend and photographer, Simon Haigh, managed to capture some great shots of these amazing birds as they feasted on a dead calf in one of the fields near Jimena. Sadly the mother cow was watching from nearby 😦 …but that’s nature and these birds are the bin (basura) men of the skies, cleaning up the road kill and keeping the campo clean for us. In flight they soar and climb gracefully together on the thermals of air, sometimes swooping low over our terrace (the cats always look nervous at this point…) On the ground they look scarier with their strange necks and sharp beaks and almost 3 metre wing-spans. Thanks, Simon, for letting me use your excellent photos.