Feathered, Final weeks, Forty One through Fifty Two

And that is a wrap for the Feathered 52 project.  I can not believe it has been a year, I feel both like we have JUST started this journey together, and like we have been doing this forever. When we started out, we weren’t even sure we would find the inspiration to create an image a week with a feather in it.  I a so so glad we persevered and created this body of work together. The weekly posts for Feathered may have come to an end, but this project will live on.  Feathered will be an article in the next issue of The Long Way Home magazine, you can hear Lili talk about our project a bit in her podcast interview (I will put the link at the end of the post) and we will be working on a book.  Each week has been a joy and a growing experience, the images and their quotes mean so much to us, and we are so thankful that you have all followed along with us.  We hope the book will be a lasting memory and an uplifting experience as we tried to pick meaningful quotes to accompany our images. Stay tuned for Feathered updates… but for  now, the final weeks… Forty One through Fifty Two!

 

~~Feathered, Week Forty One~~
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own…

The caged bird sings
 with a fearful trill
 of things unknown
 but longed for still
 and his tune is heard
 on the distant hill
 for the caged bird
 sings of freedom. ~Maya Angelou

~~Feathered, Week Forty Two~~
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.

“We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,” 
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December. ~Oliver Herford

~~Feathered, Week Forty Three~~
When you are in doubt, be still, and wait;
when doubt no longer exists for you, then go forward with courage.
So long as mists envelop you, be still;
be still until the sunlight pours through and dispels the mists
— as it surely will.
Then act with courage.

(Ponca Chief White Eagle)

~~Feathered, Week Forty Four~~
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”~Martin Luther King Jr.

~~Feathered, Week Forty Five~~
We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. E. M. Forster

~~Feathered, Week Forty Six~~
“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” 
― Brené Brown

~~Feathered, Week Forty Seven~~

The way we see the world shapes the way we treat it. If a mountain is a deity, not a pile of ore; if a river is one of the veins of the land, not potential irrigation water; if a forest is a sacred grove, not timber; if other species are biological kin, not resources; or if the planet is our mother, not an opportunity — then we will treat each other with greater respect. Thus is the challenge, to look at the world from a different perspective. ~David Suzuki

~~Feathered, Week Forty Eight~~
White Owl flies into and Out of the Field
Coming down out of the freezing sky
with its depths of light,
like an angel, or a Buddha with wings,
it was beautiful, and accurate,
striking the snow and whatever was there
with a force that left the imprint
of the tips of its wings — five feet apart —
and the grabbing thrust of its feet,
and the indentation of what had been running
through the white valleys of the snow —
and then it rose, gracefully,
and flew back to the frozen marshes
to lurk there, like a little lighthouse,
in the blue shadows —
so I thought: 
maybe death isn’t darkness, after all,
but so much light wrapping itself around us —
as soft as feathers —
that we are instantly weary of looking, and looking,
and shut our eyes, not without amazement,
and let ourselves be carried,
as through the translucence of mica,
to the river that is without the least dapple or shadow,
that is nothing but light — scalding, aortal light —
in which we are washed and washed
out of our bones.
-Mary Oliver

~~Feathered, Week Forty Nine~~
“I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart for so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can be together all the time.” 
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

~~Feathered, Week Fifty~~

“Run my dear,
From anything
That may not strengthen
Your precious budding wings.” ~Hafez

~~Feathered, Week Fifty One~~
“…the doors to the wild Self are few but precious. If you have a deep scar, that is a door, if you have an old, old story, that is a door. If you love the sky and the water so much you almost cannot bear it, that is a door. If you yearn for a deeper life, a full life, a sane life, that is a door.” -Clarissa Pinkola Estes, PhD

~~Feathered, Week Fifty Two~~

“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can’t be any large-scale revolution until there’s a personal revolution, on an individual level. It’s got to happen inside first.” ― Jim Morrison

Thank you all so much for following along on our journey!  A big special thank you to all of the fine folks who took their time to help us by modeling for Feathered!  We have another project coming up next, which will also need models, and we thank you all for your help from the bottom of our hearts!  Some images from Feathered and a nice article about our thoughts on this project will  be in the next issue of http://www.journeytoartist.com/welcome/ (The Long Way Home Magazine) and you can hear Lili’s lovely voice talking about her feelings on this project starting about half way through her interview on the My Life Creative Podcast http://www.mylifecreative.com/episodes/2016/10/28/lili-love

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Stay tuned for more Feathered updates, and the launch of our next cooperative project! 

<3 Phyllis and Lili <3