bird banquet

these are illustrations from a story i'm working on. i've never tried to tell a story before, since i'm better at describing a sensory experience than creating a plot and dialogue, but a friend got me inspired to give it a try. (i was trying to help him write his own "fictional narrative," but then i felt an urge to diverge; in my head i could see my character --a girl adrift at sea -- as clearly as if i were remembering a favorite painting, and i was loath to let her go.)

it isn't that i had an epiphany of how to tell her story, when i all i could do was fish around in my ignorance, asking myself how she had got into that position and what could she perceive. i still don't have a sense of her dialect and i haven't locked down the personalities of the people she'll meet. i'm not even sure how she will get rescued or effect her own salvation.

all i've got are memories of how salt air tastes, what it feels like to be in a little boat, heatstroke, hunger. dreams and fear. i did write down some plot points and even some notes that give a sense of era and temperament, but it's not even in proper sentence structure. (there are kids in grade school who would be less trepidatious about setting her in motion and giving her a voice!)

the two featured images are from a dream she has, while lost at sea. in it, she is seated at a long table, laden with glistening fruit and fat fish. there are gilded plates and bejeweled goblets brimming with wine. her dinner companions, however, are not ladies and gentlemen, but squawking, squabbling birds. bright-feathered and long-clawed and curve-beaked, they are merry but uncouth, and they slosh their drinks around her.

she is too soft-spoken to participate in the revelry, but her fantasy is not just a feast. in the midst of the rabble, a small bird alights at her side. he is modest, mild. he cocks his head at her and meets her with his little black eye. his gaze conveys a sense of affinity. his stillness and his small gesture calm her.

i really hope i stay on track with writing this story, or at least drawing it. i would like to know what happens to her and what she's about. i hope that blogging about it like this is a motivator, and not an act that disperses my enthusiasm.