This guardian bird was created with a wide variety of materials, including a raccoon vertebrae, snail shell, bicycle inner tubes, and wax.  I found the slow and patient work of applying each feather with each carpet tack soothing, and a bit like sewing… one thoughtful stitch at a time.  I reflected on how the making of art is deliberate and slow much of the time, and like life, comes together into a coherent whole.  The creature that came to be seems to embody that same deliberate energy, content to be in the present moment.