Modern Scherenschnitte: Crow on Maple

I spotted this crow sitting atop a maple tree near the Arboretum on this morning, and the scene reminded me of something out of a Pennsylvania Dutch scherenschnitte. According to Wikipedia:

"Scherenschnitte, which means 'scissor cuts' in German, is the art of papercutting design. The art work often has symmetry within the design, and common forms include silhouettes, valentines, and love letters. The art tradition was founded in Switzerland and Germany in the 16th century, and was brought to Colonial America in the 18th century by immigrants who settled primarily in Pennsylvania."

To see samples of this amazing art, simply do a google image search on the word scherenschnitte. :-)

Pennsylvania Dutch (which is actually German, not Dutch) art often features a bird called a distelfink. The distelfink is a stylized version of a European goldfinch, and the bird represents happiness and good fortune. (Okay, so this particular bird in the photo may be a crow rather than a distelfink, but I like to think it is wishing us good fortune anyway!)

The song to accompany this image is Evan Rachel Wood's performance of the Beatles classic, Black Bird, from the film Across the Universe (whose entire soundtrack is marvelous and I highly recommend it!). Enjoy!