American Goldfinch, et al

[radiantfracture]

A great thing about any break is having the mental space to paint again.

I have begun a bunch of projects, but this one was time-limited. It is a little American Goldfinch for my uncle, who is in a care home for the first time this Christmas. The goldfinch appears in company with a half-finished Black-Capped Chickadee who is waiting for me to go and buy more black paint.

I don't think I've ever seen a goldfinch in this territory, but we get a great many chickadees.




American Goldfinch (Aginjibagwesi in Anishinaabemowin — thank you, Joe Pitawanakwat)




Black-Capped Chickadee in progress (t̕ᶿət̕ᶿqiyáʔəs in SENĆOŦEN)

{rf}

Comments

[sovay]

It is a little American Goldfinch for my uncle, who is in a care home for the first time this Christmas. The goldfinch appears in company with a half-finished Chickadee who is waiting for me to go and buy more black paint.

They're lovely.

[radiantfracture]

Thank you! It is so good to paint again.

[radiantfracture]

I have recorded this at least twice and you have posted it at least the same number of times, yet can you remind me of the name of the nudibranch of which, immortalized in glass, you are so fond?

[sovay]

I have recorded this at least twice and you have posted it at least the same number of times, yet can you remind me of the name of the nudibranch of which, immortalized in glass, you are so fond?

Stiliger ornatus.

[sabotabby]

Gorgeous!

[radiantfracture]

Cheers!

[asakiyume]

Aaaahhh indigenous names!! Is there any place to go to hear how those words sound when said? (Your art is gorgeous) ... Chickadees are such brave, friendly, wonderful birds. (And goldfinches make the heart soar, they fly like they're sewing the sky, up and down, up and down.)

[radiantfracture]

Thank you!

The first word in this video is the Anishinaabemowin (aginjibagwesi) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLin8b39_jU

The chickadee came from this site, but the sound link doesn't work yet: https://itservices.cas.unt.edu/~montler/saanich/wordlist/birds#311.

The version I copied here is in IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), so it's possible to get the sounds, though of course it always sounds different when someone who speaks the language says it.

The SENĆOŦEN way of writing it might be more transparent (I use IPA because I know it):

ȾEȾḴIYO¸ES

So, okay, if I were going to work this out just from the IPA, here's what I'd do. This is the IPA again:

t̕ᶿət̕ᶿqiyáʔəs

ə is the same as any unstressed vowel in English, sort of an "uh".

q is a uvular stop -- like a k in English but further back in the throat.

ʔ is a glottal stop, like the gap in the English negative "uh-uh".

I believe the accent on the á indicates the stressed syllable, and in IPA this is an "ah" not an "ayh". (In my accent, a is the onset of the dipthong in "loud".)

t̕ᶿ is tricky and I don't say it properly yet, but I think if you did a hard dental t, you'd be pretty close.

So "tet-keeyA'es" might be a reasonable approximation?

Again, the SENĆOŦEN, designed for actual speakers, maybe makes this all clearer: ȾEȾḴIYO¸ES

[asakiyume]

**thank you** so much for taking the time to do this! I can pretty much get a sense of how to say "chickadee" from this. And the other, the recording, how wonderful! A whole story ! The goldfinch tasked with counting the leaves <3

[radiantfracture]

Ha, well, thank you for your patience.

[cmcmck]

So unlike our native European goldfinches!

[radiantfracture]

What are they like?

[pauraque]

These are wonderful! We have both species year-round here, though the goldfinches aren't that color in the winter. :)

[radiantfracture]

Yes, I'm cheating a bit for my uncle.

[house_wren]

ooh - I enjoyed seeing your artwork. Lovely.

[radiantfracture]

Thank you! I see you have an avian username.

[house_wren]

My user name was inspired by a house wren nesting in the lilac that I can see from my window. I'm not a bird watcher, by which I mean I'm not a person with binoculars and a list, but since I moved to the countryside I've met a lot of birds.
I like to draw, and so I especially liked the expressive style of your artwork.

[radiantfracture]

I like to draw

Lovely! Do you post your work?

[house_wren]

I haven't posted any visual art yet; thanks for asking. I like to use pointed pen with gouache.

[radiantfracture]

I just saw that in the art store the other day – I didn't even know you could use gouache for calligraphy until then.

I love gouache as a medium -- so springy.

[adore]

ADORABLE!

[radiantfracture]

Thank you!

[smokingboot]

So pretty!

[radiantfracture]

Thank you!

[oracne]

Beautiful!

[radiantfracture]

Thank you!