Spirit Bird

The drawing of "Spirit Bird" began at the center of the a body whose
form I did not anticipate at first.  It developed from a central dot
and a tiny line (an arc) propagating from it. An amoeba-like border
was then added to these inner details.  Radiating details were added
which eventually were highlighted in black.  As these black details
were developed, it became more clear to me that the long neck and head
of a turkey was developing.  Not being satisfied with the species of
bird (despite the appropriate upcoming Thanksgiving holiday) I sought
to make it more pheasant-like by adding a wispy, feathered tail with
an interior mountain region at its origin.  This too seemed not to
'de-turkeyify' my beautiful bird.  It was not until my decision to add
some wings when I was happy with what then appeared more angel-like
and therefore spiritual.  To enhance the spiritual vision (in lines)
for both the viewer and from the bird's eyes, I drew a circle around
its head and added stars inside it -- radiating from its "mind" if you
will.  Throughout the development of this drawing, I was aware of two
additional "mandala-like" circles which I had intended to add at the
end to further frame the bird -- while also considering an idea I had
not ever tried -- which was to extend parts of the bird out into the
white space beyond the circular mandala's detail.  This further
captured a feeling of depth while the bird was in its flight.  In
developing the final details for the mandala regions, I tried to add
astronomical scenes.  A keen eye will detect five shooting stars, a
rising sun, small flying birds, a crescent moon, mountains and stars. 
Spirit Bird both embodies them and flies with them.  One could think
of ourselves much as the Spirit Bird, since we too are made of
star dust as we move through the cosmos seeing what we see.

Upper-left detail:



Lower-right detail:



Lower-left detail:



Head detail: