Letter Five: hawk’s journey, stop motion animation

Hawk, your flight motion is absolutely beautiful.

I’m sitting in my studio looking out, a thousand windows reflecting the morning sun. I imagine the thermal winds lifting you as the morning warms, and I watch you soar above the city.

One city hawk winged
into flight
fan of the sky.
—Gale Jackson [5]

I realize there are many ways to express voice, beauty, and grace—but how can I communicate deeply unless I understand what places you in the sky? Your skeletal and anatomical aspects will help clarify the essence of your nature as I compose an animation titled hawk’s journey.

I was inspired by Audubon’s original drawings and paintings at the New York City Museum, the ornithological exhibits at the Museum of Natural History, and Leonardo da Vinci’s flight study sketches. I watched many online films on birds’ flight and continued to observe Hawk on my daily walks in the park.

I imagine Hawk flying over the Brooklyn Bridge and into Manhattan, north to Central Park and Washington Heights, and then back home again to Queens. hawk’s journey speaks of the dreamlike quality of my life.

Love,

Tom