Cat’s Cradle

Watercolour and charcoal on paper
30cm x 45cm

Mostly using charcoal pencil, this piece is primarily grey scale, with a small section of colour. The splotch of sky blue watercolour framing a small flock of birds emphasizes the life and remaining nature within the otherwise industrialized world. A reflection of how we as humans have integrated ourselves into the world and environment, the large scale hands are illustrated to appear as telephone poles. Rather than resting upon tree branches, the birds perch on telephone wires that are cat’s cradled into the fingers. This represents how we have woven ourselves so intricately and irreversibly into wildlife. The composition of this piece mocks that of a forest scene, replacing trees with the skeletons of themselves, a woodland comprised of telephone poles. Despite this contrast between nature and human colonization, or colour and greyscale, there is a natural flow. The transition between what is telephone pole and human hand is almost seamless, illustrating how we coexist with nature.