HARBINGER OF SPRING

There is always much excitement every year at hearing the first cuckoo calls, as they are taken to be harbingers of Spring. This year, with large areas of the country are covered in snow and ice, we need that reassurance!  Because of this, the cuckoo is known as a lucky bird and there is a superstition that it is lucky to have money in your pocket when that first call is heard.  Jingling or spitting on the money will draw attention to it so that in the year ahead your money will grow.  On the other hand, if your pockets are empty, it will be a poor year ahead.

This time last year, one of my best friends, who has several businesses but also finds time to be a mixed media artist,  bought an old clock that was falling apart at a local flea market. She challenged me to do something with it. Here is the result.

'Cuckoo', assemblage 20cms high 

My idea was to look at cuckoo clocks and combine it with the fact that, in Spring the female cuckoo will lay her egg in the nest of a smaller bird and expect it to raise the alien chick that emerges, hence the saying 'cuckoo in the nest'.  I used a different clock face, the door was taken off leaving only the hinges, a roof was added and a nest made with strips of leather. The egg and the cuckoo were made with model magic and then painted. The text on the roof, cut out from old papers is:- 'cuckoo in the nest' and 'nest in the cuckoo clock'.