Artwork: American Kestrel

Been working on this piece for several weeks, debated on whether or not to do a background.  It is being entered in the Woodson Museum's Birds in Art competition, and since I've not done many pieces with background I decided now was not the time to try it!

"Siren Song"

This beautiful little lady has become one of my favorite pieces.  I love the pose and the expression.  I wanted a title that reflected her energy, and played around with words that have to do with bravery, spirit and so on.  I wasn't happy with what I was finding when I somehow came upon "siren".

I did a little research on the Sirens, which were apparently at one point portrayed as women/bird hybrids.  This from Wikipedia:  "The tenth century Byzantine encyclopedia Suda^[19] says that from their chests up Sirens had the form of sparrows, below they were women, or, alternatively, that they were little birds with women's faces."  I thought this was really cool because the kestrel is know colloquially as a "sparrow hawk", which is the other title I had been considering.

Then I found a poem by Margaret Atwood called "Siren Song", excerpted here:

"Shall I tell you the secret
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?"

That sealed the deal!

I'm really excited about this piece and the title.  I strive to present my subjects as individuals, and to tell a story, and I feel I've done that with piece.

Thanks for looking!