This giveaway is now closed.
Finally.
Ok, so today's the day. I think this is the first giveaway I've done on this blog and I'm so happy that this print gets to be the kick-off of many more future giveaways.
But first, a bit of back-story...
Ahem.
My mother loves to sing. Growing up, some of my most favorite memories are of her singing to us and teaching us old songs; songs like "Oh You Beautiful Doll," "Old Man River," and "Under the Bamboo Tree." Sometimes she would sing the Beatles "Blackbird" to us. I once heard a version of the song with blackbirds chirping in background. Those blackbirds, combined with my mother's voice, would play in my head and I'd see yellow fields filled with wildflowers and crowned with blue skies and lazy clouds.
I've always wanted to have that image in a tangible form, so when I was scouting around for phrases to illustrate for RambeWild, Blackbird's "Take these Broken Wings and Learn to Fly" was one of the first to come to mind. I think it took maybe a week of sketching and re-sketching to finally pull the image that had been in my head onto the paper, and another week of painting and inking before everything looked just right. And all the time I was sketching and painting, I'd hear the phrase "take these broken wings and learn to fly" and I'd think about how often I've had to do that in my life...how life will sometimes give us ugly, broken situations and not even have the decency to make sure they are the poetically ugly situations. Things like living in an ugly house with bumpy, mustard-colored walls, and a tiny backyard that reeks in the summer of the neighbor's dogs...bleh...when all I really want is that old farmhouse with the wood floors and pretty molding, and huge shady trees and lots of grass and space for my littles to stretch out their legs and get a good run (note: this is only a minor pet peeve of the author's and is not in any way reflect the majority of the pet peeves the author has)....Anway, how did I get on to this? Oh, that's right. Well, I would work on this painting and hear the phrase from the song, and once it was all finished, it was such an incredibly happy feeling to have this in front of my eyes instead of behind them, I had to do a little dance and then promptly put all the small fry in the car and took the painting home to my mother's to show her what she inspired.
So, to make a long story short, I hope you like Blackbird as much as I do, and that it might inspire a few happy thoughts to brighten up your day.
And now that I made you read all the above to get to this part, here's the giveaway!
"Broken Wings"
by Kit Chase
13"x19" giclee on archival watercolor paper
Enter to win this print by doing these two things:
1. blog, tweet, facebook, or tell your friends about the giveaway (the more the merrier)
2. leave a comment and tell me what's your favorite flower, pet peeve, or inspirational quote
The giveaway is open to everyone worldwide; the winner will be selected via random.org and announced next Friday, the 15th of June.
I can't wait to see your comments!
