Distressed Blackbird Sketch (Grungy Monday)

I love red-winged blackbirds. I'm not sure if it's that deep flash of color on their wings or the memories it brings back of the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," which I read in college and found to be oh-so-profound at the time (somehow, I doubt it would hold up today, though).  At the very beginning of the book, a father points out a red-winged black bird to his son who finds it unremarkable.  And then there's this line: "At age eleven you don’t get very impressed with red-winged blackbirds. You have to get older for that."  I'm not sure why that line has stayed with me, but it has. And I think of it and smile whenever I see one of these beautiful birds. The other day when I was running on the coastside trail, I spied one of these wonderful creatures, and I wanted to capture the feeling in my smashbook sketchbook. I wish I would have used the Zen quote, but I didn't think of it until it was too late,  Still, I'm still reasonably happy with my page (and I did make it in 10 minutes). To make it, I used my Tim Holtz bird mask and used it along with some Tim Holtz distress inks. The technique is very timely because this week's Grungy Monday challenge over at the Studio L3 is to use distress inks! 
It's also timely because these blackbirds signal summer, and I'm definitely getting into summer mode these days. Don't forget to check out my Summertime Snapshot and Photography Scavenger Hunt, which you can find at this link. It's looking like we're going to have two divisions:  photography and snapshot teams!  I'm very happy with the turnout so far, but there's definitely room for more. So, go check it out!