Mourning Dove

For the last several weeks, whenever I'm in the art studio one or two Mourning Doves appear outside my window. At first I didn't notice a pattern but after awhile I came to notice that within 20 minutes of me working in that room the bird(s) would appear. They seem to just graze in the patch below my window. Once I began noticing this, I would look for them at other times of the day when I wasn't in the art room. No Mourning Doves around, ever. Weird.

Several days ago while coming home from dinner with my family, my husband turned onto our street and in the middle of the road was what looked like a duckling. We thought it was strange because there is no water nearby. It just sat there not moving. My husband pulled over because there was no way to get by with the bird in the road. I jumped out of the vehicle and went to it. It wasn't a duckling, but rather a baby Mourning Dove. I carefully shepherded it off the road to a safe spot on the sidewalk. There was a big tree and some bushes by the sidewalk so I figured the nest must be nearby.

After that experience I started thinking about what the symbolism of the Mourning Dove meant. I googled and found this:

Some things to pay attention to when a Mourning Dove appears: 


People often find that unexpected and unseen support and assistance comes when they need it most. 


Travel is often indicated when Dove appears prominantly, and this may include relocation to a new home.


A death, either physical (of someone one knows or is close to) or symbolic (within the individual) may occur and while it may bring grief, there is also quite often a sense of relief and gratitude that suffering has finally ended and peace will soon be at hand. 


A new relationship may begin or an old one rekindled. 


The ways and means of leaving a destructive or difficult situation is at hand. Life is about to become much more peaceful and satisfying on all levels.


Some of the these things apply to me right now and after I read it I was feeling a little bit of "ohhhh spooky".

So in light of all this, I decided to draw (paint?) a Mourning Dove.  If it is my totem or medicine then I felt I should honor it.

I normally draw from a printed photo.  My printer is packed for our move next week (see...fitting with the dove) so I drew this from a photo reference on my phone.  I think it came out well given the small viewing area I worked with.

It's funny that I can draw pretty well from a 2D image but can't draw from life or imagination.

This is 8"X 8" on Stonehenge paper done in Prismacolor color pencils.  I haven't done a color pencil drawing in ages and I really enjoyed it.  I liked the slow process of adding layers upon layers of color.