I made this sketch this time last week. I didn’t have a lot of time for my own work, but when that happens I always think a little sketch made ‘plein air’ can always become something more ambitious back in the studio. I’ve been noticing crows recently and my last feather and ink piece shared on this blog involved one. The crows love this field opposite the river and march around looking for food. I think the farmer disturbs the ground by cutting the grass and they like that. They could be rooks as there is a rookery in the tall trees that you can see in the distance. I often don’t know the difference, but rooks are social. All part of the crow family. As spirit guides I’ve been reading that crows give a sense of perspective, a well as the malevolence that we associate with them. I’ve been reading Ted Hughes powerful masterpiece, the collection ‘From The Life and Songs of the Crow’ It’s giving me a lot of food for thought. He certainly wasn’t scared of going towards the dark side of human nature. It comes through in these poems. I’m staying open as ever and seeing where this takes me. Watch this space. I’ll also be finishing my oil painting of York Minster. I went to that fair city again last week to a talk by Rosie Wyles, classicist of King’s College London, about Medea’s Chaos and Order as part of the Festival Of Ideas currently on there. That has also given me food for thought!