Beauty and Peace in Death and Decay with Birds (warning, possibly graphic)

Hello Steemit, it has been a while. I got a job for the summer and had no time for my artwork or anything else for that matter... But I am back in school, and want to put my free time back to good use!

Today I want to show you one of my favorite things to express in art, and it's my fascination with death. We do not know what happens after death, but we leave our material bodies behind. Nature claims that material and it is recycled back into life.

This is a graphite drawing (with water soluble graphite) That I did a while back, and modeled off of a picture I saw online. It was a partially decomposing pigeon. It's feathers were losing their foundation and were beginning to collapse.

This was drawn from a hawk skull that was given to me as a gift, and I definitely noticed a difference from drawing from a flat photo, and drawing from something sitting right in front of me. In all of my drawings of the dead, I wanted to evoke a sense of peace and tranquility. How it might feel (if we do feel) when one has ceased from the business of life.

-Warning Graphic-

I wanted to post this next photo of a beautiful bird I found on my college campus, who had recently died from colliding with a window. It was another pigeon, which is strange to me because they aren't actually common where I live. Sometimes I see pigeons as a sign of growth in my city, as it heads towards higher populations. It may also be helpful to remind everyone that putting stickers or something on large windows may help prevent deaths like this.

I am glad I got the rare chance to get this photo, and am excited to use it as a model and make something interesting. I was particularly floored by the natural shape that it took to when it's life was gone. The beautiful arcs, and shapes.

Thank you for reading this, and feel free to discuss this topic with me in the comments. Do you see death as peaceful? I feel Life cannot exist without it. What do you think happens when we die?