Next Challenge: "Song Bird" - Reveal Date November 30th, 2019

Song bird.

Your challenge has two parts to it. The first is to depict a bird from a song that has special meaning in your life. The second part of the challenge is to work in a style, colour palette or medium you don’t normally use.

Birds are often used as metaphor for feeling free - flying above whatever it is that might be holding you down. That's one of the reasons artists play on birds - doves, vultures, bird songs or just the word "bird" generically - as a symbol in a song. Not always is this symbolism positive.

For example, Nelly Furtado's most known hit "I'm Like A Bird" describes herself as a bird flying away without a clue where her soul or home is. John Mayer sings in "Vulture" of other people picking him apart. And then you have someone like Anderson .Paak rapping "a bird with the word came to me," playing off of The Trashmen's "bird is the word" line from "Surfin' Bird" in 1963.

If you need some inspiration, here’s a list of songs with a bird in the title:

...As the Crow Flies - Newsted

33 Crows - Kula Shaker

A Wolf Amongst Ravens - After the Burial

Albatross - Big Wreck

Albatross - Fleetwood Mac

Albatross - Foals

Albatross - Judy Collins

Albatross - Public Image Ltd.

Albatross - The Besnard Lakes

Albatross - Wild Beasts

All Birds Look Like Chickens to Me - Sweet Papa Stovepipe

A Nightingale sang in Berkely Square – Vera Lynn

Bird Song - M.I.A.

Bird Song - Sean Lennon

Birdie - Avril Lavigne

Birds – Coldplay

Birds – Imagine Dragons

Birds of the High Arctic - David Gray

Black Crow Blues - Bob Dylan

Black Swan - Megadeth

Black Swan Song - Athlete

Black Vultures - Halestorm

Blackbird - Dido

Blackbird - Madness

Blackbird - Marcy Playground

Blackbird - Rumer

Blackbird - The Beatles

Blackbird Chain - Beck

Blackest Crow - Megadeth

Blood Eagle Wings - Anthrax

Bluebird - Carl Wayne

Bluebird - Electric Light Orchestra

Bluebird - Miranda Lambert

Bluebirds Over The Mountain - Ersel Hickey

Bye Bye Blackbird - Eddie Cantor

Canary in a coalmine – The Police

Child Owlet - Steeleye Span

Cicadas And Gulls - Feist

Comfort Eagle - Cake

Dodo - David Bowie

Dodo/Lurker - Genesis

Dove and Grenade - Hollywood Undead

Doves in the Wind - SZA

Eagle - ABBA

Eagle on a Pole - Conor Oberst

Eagle Rider - Delirious?

Eagle Song - The Staves

El Condor Pasa (If I Could) - Simon & Garfunkel

Falling Dove - Crowded House

Flightless Bird, American Mouth - Iron & Wine

Fly Like An Eagle - Steve Miller Band

Free Like a Bird - the Beatles

Ghost chickens in the sky – Leroy Troy

Green Finch and Linnet Bird - Cast of Sweeney Todd

Gulls - David Gray

Happy Like A Chicken With His Head Cut Off - Eric Hutchinson

How Shall a Sparrow Fly - Ryan Bingham

Hummingbird - Seals & Crofts

Hummingbird - LCAW

Hummingbird Heartbeat - Katy Perry

I Hate Seagulls - Kate Nash

I Was An Eagle - Laura Marling

I'm an Albatraoz – AronChupa

I’m like a bird – Nelly Furtado

Ice Cream For Crow - Captain Beefheart

Kookaburra - Marion Sinclair

Let It Feel Good (My Eagles) - White Denim

Listen To The Mocking Bird – Traditional

Little bird – Annie Lennox

Little Sparrow - Dolly Parton

Little White Dove - Jenny Lewis

Magpie - Beth Orton

Mocking Bird - Barclay James Harvest

Mockingbird - Inez & Charlie Foxx

Mockingbird - Rob Thomas

Mockingbird Time - The Jayhawks

Mockingbirds - Grant Lee Buffalo

Morning Mr. Magpie - Radiohead

On Peregrine Wings - Joe Satriani

On The Wings Of A Nightingale - The Everly Brothers

Owls (Are Watching) - Funeral for a Friend

Pam the Hawk - Madness

Parakeet - Damon Albarn

Peacock - Katy Perry

Pelican - The Maccabees

Poisoning Pigeons In The Park - Tom Lehrer

Pretty Flamingo - Manfred Mann

Raven - Mark Owen

Rise Like a Phoenix - Conchita Wurst

Rockin' Robin - Bobby Day

Sally's Pigeons - Cyndi Lauper

Saturday Nite At The Duck-Pond - The Cougars

Seagull - Bad Company

Seagulls - The Coral

Sparrow - Audrey Assad

Sparrows - Jason Gray

Sparrows Will Sing - Marianne Faithfull

Starlings - Elbow

Stone the Crow - Down

Stool Pigeon - Kid Creole & the Coconuts

Swan Song - Lana Del Rey

Swan Song - Dua Lipa

Swansong For A Raven - Cradle of Filth

The Bonny Swans - Loreena McKennitt

The Cranes Are Back - Paul Weller

The Crow - Hurts

The Crow And The Butterfly - Shinedown

The Crow, the Owl and the Dove - Nightwish

The Cutty Wren - Traditional

The Eagle and the Hawk - John Denver

The Geese Of Beverly Road - The National

The Lark Ascending - Ralph Vaughan Williams

The Observations Of A Crow - Marty Stuart

The Ostrich - The Primitives

The Phoenix - Fall Out Boy

The Raven - Wishbone Ash

The Silver Swan - Orlando Gibbons

The Sparrow - Mastodon

The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine - The Flaming Lips

The Thieving Magpie Overture - Gioachino Rossini

The Ugly Duckling - Danny Kaye

The Vulture - Pendulum

Three Little Birds - Bob Marley & the Wailers

Two Magpies - The Fireman

Visa Vulture - Shame

Vulture - Iggy Pop

Vultures - Asking Alexandria

Vultures - John Mayer

When Doves Cry - Prince

When The Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along - Al Jolson

When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano - Glenn Miller

Where Eagles Dare - Iron Maiden

Where Eagles Dare - Misfits

Where The Stars And Stripes And The Eagle Fly - Aaron Tippin

Wheresoever Eagles Gather (The Ballad of Randy Weaver) - Carl Klang

White Bird - The Coral

White Sparrows - Billy Talent

Wings Of A Dove - Ferlin Husky

Winter Bird - Aurora

Woodpecker - Chuck Berry

Tattoos - Vivian Kapusta - "A Sad Time!"

Here is the Story ... A sad time!

I wasn’t in school like the big kids. 

There was an old man who came to live next door. He always looked sad …
but he would smile when he saw me.
So … we sat on the front steps while he carved little wood animals.
We would play a game called NAME.
He would point, I said the name and he repeated the word until he said it right.
He often worked around the yard and on a hot day he had his sleeves rolled up.
There were numbers on his arm ... he quickly rolled his sleeve down ...
he was sad again and went inside.

I asked my mom, ‘why?’ She looked sad and said, ‘Never mind’.
I asked my dad ... he said, “It’s about the war …”
The next time I saw the old man, he took a photo out of his pocket.
It was a pretty lady and a little blond girl, about my age.
He pointed and said, “Lost ”. His face was sad.
We moved shortly after. I carried those memories and over the years,
I came to understand. He wasn’t old, he had spent years in a work camp.
His wife and daughter were taken away during WW II.
Tattoos make me sad ... I don’t like to look at them.

I was uncomfortable with this subject ... didn't understand why.
I started it many times and then, a memory from my childhood came forward.
I had not thought about it for years.

Tattoos - Laura Jane Hatcher - "Resist"

 

I was so excited with the theme of this Tattoos challenge. As a former Tattoo Artist with 80% of my body covered in ink, my mind was racing with the possibilities! 

I was deeply inspired by the classic portraits of Tattooed Women of the past. The portraits especially from the 1880's-1920's are beautiful images and provide rare glimpses of the strong women, groundbreakers, revolutionaries, suffragettes, non-conformists of their time. As an artist and also as a chronic pain warrior, I draw strength and courage from these women. Frida Kahlo is another non-traditional chronic pain warrior who gives me strength and courage during the dark times. The way she created her art,curated her outward appearance, clothing, jewelry and her home and garden as expressions and mirrors of her inner life remind me that it's the beauty of our innermost selves which we struggle to reveal.

Tattoos - Bern Johnson - "Radiation Tattoos"

When the Tattoos challenge was posted I thought, Yay ... a challenge “right up my alley” as I have two tattoos. I came to love tattoos and body art once I started seeing them in bright colours rather than awful khaki colours. I myself have two tattoos: a lion and a forget-me-not.

But one night when giving my dear husband a back rub, I noticed his tattoos.
Barry’s tattoos weren’t done for pleasure, you see they were done as radiation markers when he was treated for prostate cancer.

Barry’s tattoos were tattooed on his hips and just above the crack in his buttocks so the radiation machine could be lined up accurately to deliver the radiation to his body that would, thankfully, deliver the treatment that would save his life. 

So instead of focusing my challenge quilt on my tattoos and my original theme of my tattoos and the list of tattoos that tattoos that I want to get done (yes, I have a list), I decided to do my challenge quilt on the theme of my husband’s radiation tattoos to highlight medical tattoos.

So there began the task of getting my husband to turn “this way and that” so that I could draw his body and place the tattoos accurately where they are situated on his body. Barry is 69 and a bit rotund (aren't a lot of us?). I have sewn his grey/white hair on the back of his head with the sewing machine. The hair is not perfect but it a suggestion of what his hair is like. I have drawn and coloured in his underwear on the side view of his body, to save a bit of time with applique and protect my husband's "dignity". 

The quilting is of ocean waves as hubby is a keen fisherman and so his aim once he was through his prostatectomy (removal of the prostate back in 2015) was to get back out fishing. He was then diagnosed as needing radiation back at the end of 2017 and started radiation in December 2017 and finished that treatment in January 2018. Likewise the backing fabric is of fish, against harking back to my husband's love of fishing. 

For the first time ever I have used the facing style of backing the quilt. 

At first I hated the idea of Barry having to have radiation. The idea of such treatment was abominable.
I went into the treatment room to see the area where he would be having the treatment. I could not obviously be in the room with him during the treatment period.

But the treatment was a success. Some time on and the cancer is undetectable. I thank God every day for that and for having my husband “alive and kicking”.

In making this quilt I wanted to highlight radiation tattoos and to highlight that not all tattoos are done for pleasure.

Tattoos - Arti - "Soul Connection"

                                      "Soul Connection"

 

Tattoos have always been a way for people to express themselves. A symbol for individuality, tattoos are way to share with the world something, a cause or even just a fun little joke, something we believe in and enjoy.

My tattoo isn't on my body, but on my soul. I have always been a fierce person, and I believe that my tattoo is not a physical part of me, as the physical form is temporary. It transcends my physical form, and will carry on in many other facets, some that are even physically impossible. As long as my soul endures, my tattoo will also thrive, forevermore.

The tattoo I have chosen is a pair of wings in vibrant colors, beneath a quotation that i strongly affirm. Wings signify the open skies, and I always love to soar to new heights, in terms of how I live my life. The quotation beneath is one of my personal motifs. How dare we tell others what to do with their lives? To each his own, that's how we will grow and thrive; together not divided. I personally think that one shouldn't ever let others undermine or decide how to live our lives for us.

Tattoos - Tina Sommer Paaske

Tattoos - Tina Sommer Paaske 

I don't have any tattoos and I probably never will have any, but if I should ever consider one, it would be something like this. First one from left to right stands for fortitude, number two is unconditional love and just above is peacekeeper. The last one and the biggest is called unalome and stands for the road to enlightenment. I've used my own deconstructed screenprintet fabric and paint.

Tattoos - Tina Katwal - "The Journey"

Universal Truth - If you already sport one tattoo, you will definitely want a second one. Its just a question of time.

I am thinking what if I got my second one with fabric patterns ? 

So what do you see? 

Do you see my journey, as I dive into the depths of this Universe?

Do u see the 'Inner Awakening' as I peel away layers of understanding?

Or, perhaps you see a giant eyeball ?!

Would you like to see the back of this li'l quilt ? I constructed both sides in one go !

Do u see a window into my soul ?

A wormhole ?

love, luck, and happiness,

- Tina

Tattoos - Lisa Scarfe - "Bride"

My quilt for the Tattoos theme depicts a henna tattoo. Dyeing and tattooing using plant based dyes such as henna is an ancient

craft from numerous cultures including Indian, Arabic, Middle Eastern and Northern African, to name a few. My quilt is my interpretation of a bride with her henna tattoo. I was trying to do something different to a normal skin tattoo.

I used a silk/viscose fabric for the hand, raw Thai silk for the background, a tulle/blingy fabric for the cuff and quilting cotton for the nails and also underneath the tulle. I used a DMC metallic thread for the tattoo embroidery and a metallic braid for the edge. I used monofilament or invisible thread for everything else.

Technically this was a challenging task, partly because of the challenges with the different materials I used.

I made a very basic error when drawing up the henna tattoo with a Sewline pencil - I found the lines wouldn't erase as I had assumed they would. I tried a few things including the Sewline eraser which didn't work. Bleach was highly unsuccessful - the fabric disappeared!! Eventually a Sewline liquid eraser got most of it out, though in some light you can see where this has been, despite being thoroughly rinsed out. Lesson definitely learnt here!

I had to block the hand as it dried as the silk/viscose fabric curled up easily and I really didn't trust the iron on this fabric or the thread.

The stitching was done with a DMC metallic thread. It was such a pain to use I will definitely not ever use it again. Maybe it was the type of fabric I chose....never say never!

I love this blingy/tulle fabric. 

I must admit I do wonder if this quilt is finished. I have certainly broken the rule about not having large spaces unstitched. Many ideas of what to put in these spaces have crossed my mind (gold paisley shapes?) but I really am not sure what to do, or if doing anything will take away from the embroidery and the blingy/tulle. Also, the Thai silk red background fabric is gorgeous, so I am not sure if I want to do something that might detract from this. 

Tattoos - Alice Wood

I think Fleur and I must have come from the same family (except grandfather with tatts!) as it was ingrained very early in my life that tattoos were not acceptable - and they still aren't. 
My piece obviously indicates this in the red 'No Human Tats' message whilst the green circles with a line through them represent, to me, acceptable tattoos - those being on domestic animals that have been desexed.  
Techniques used were bobbin work for the writing, french knots for the animals' tattoos and keeping with the theme of the less seen the better, I decided not to quilt tattoos on the piece.

The backing of my quilt is made using cream fabrics that has three different size blue dots on it to represent skin and indigo dyes that were traditionally used in early tattoos. 
It reminded me of a comment about tattoos by an English comic who now lives in Western Australia "Why do young girls get a tattoo of a cute little butterfly on their bums that in thirty years time will look like a bloody Jumbo jet?'

Tattoos - Fleur Maddern - "Stony Chook"

Let me introduce you to Stony Chook

In her younger days she was a Rock Chick!

She worshiped the sun & the latest rock band, always trying to be 'in the moment' & 'up to date', keeping up with the ever changing top of the pops! 

Now in her twilight years she has a permanent reminder of her devotion to her teenage idols, and her fickle loyalties.

*****

I remember when I was about 10 years old seeing an old woman with 'tatts' on her wrinkly aged arm.

At the time I thought it looked revolting. Her skin was dry, wrinkly and obviously sun damaged from years of sun-bathing, 

the tattoo was dull, faded and looked bedraggled.

I don't remember exactly what the tattoo was, but it was the first time I had seen tattoos on a woman, and it made a lasting impression on me, a very negative impression.

My grandfather had a few small homemade tattoos. 

Whenever any of us grandchildren saw them or mentioned them he would always quite firmly say to us that they were wrong, he'd made a mistake doing them and for us to never ever do it.

His stern advice also made a lasting impression on me.

So of course I don't have any tattoos.

Some things that are ingrained in you as a child really stick.

*****

How I made this quilt

The basic design was drawn from the 'Redheads' matchbox.

The arm is machine embroidered, pillowed out with "Shrinky" fabric and steam activated, 

this created a 3D element to the arm.

Her hair, facial features and singlet top are machine satin stitched.

Hair features are satin stitched. 

Say Goodbye to Stony!

*"Chook" is an Australian word for an older chicken