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I looked at a rook,
He looked at me,
I in my nook,
He in his tree.
He gave such a look
Of scorn and pride,
I shut my book
And crept inside;
I took from a hook
My gun to kill
That haughty rook,
Who meant me ill;
But just as I took
Most careful aim
He gave me a look
That said 'For shame!
Before ye came, long, long ago,
These
woods were haunt of rook and crow,
Of
badger and fox and doe in fl ight —
A
squirrel could swing from Dale to Bight —
Ye
think me rude to thus intrude
Upon
thy paltry solitude?
And
yet thy gun much ruder is,
For
which of us intruder is?’
I
looked at the rook,
He
looked at me,
I
in my nook,
He
in his tree;
Back
to its hook
Went
gun — and, aye,
Back
to my nook
Went
book and I.
I Looked At A Rook - Felix Dennis
Corvus Frugilegus
There is something fascinating about the crow family, and I
haven’t finished with them yet, having recently started a painting of a magpie.
Rooks are arguably the uglier branch of the crow family,
with the bald, scabby looking area on their beaks. However, they are possibly the most sociable of the crows. You don’t often
see them on their own – they live, nest and roost together. They are much
maligned, certainly in our local cricket club, especially by Fred before he sadly passed away. He disliked them for
digging up the chafer grubs, and thereby damaging the turf. He didn't care much for chafer grubs either, given that they do as much damage as the rooks!
Rooks have
numerous collective nouns, depending on where you live, including building,
parliament, clamour and storytelling. I
particularly like the last one, and I painted this one because I like them ( I
like all birds – especially the crow family), and because I recently finished
reading ‘Bellman and Black’, by Diane
Setterfield, where the rook was a
recurring presence. I really enjoyed the first half of the book, but I felt it fell
away a little in the second half. If you’re reading this Diane, which I very
much doubt, I much preferred The Thirteenth Tale, which was great. Still, I like
that books sometimes influence what I paint.
This has been sat in my studio, and latterly on my wall, for a few weeks now.
The usual blocking in.
Working into the mass shape with a finger and a rag.
detail
Rook
