a bit of an off day 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

This bird is actually made from a vintage cookbook recipe, but I got carried away in the process of painting and the recipe is now hidden.

out to lunch 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

Just a cute way of saying "not all there".

cream puff bird 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

This bird is made from a vintage recipe for cream puffs, and I added the barbwire for balance--fluffy and sweet, but edgy.

strawberry love bird 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

This bird is made of a recipe from a vintage cookbook, and the heart it dangles is a photograph of a strawberry dessert from the same book.

feathered friend 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

The bird in this piece is made from a 1962 calendar from a vintage book.

ladies everywhere 2007 30"x 40" mixed media

Roses = women. Gold = divinity.

curious feather 2009 10"x 10" mixed media

The bird in this piece is created from a recipe from a vintage cookbook.

behind the curious birds 2009 10"x 10" mixed media

The birds are fashioned out of vintage cookbook recipes and they have rhinestones to add sparkle to their eyes. Behind them is a secret mistake--the original painting I intended. I didn't like how it was going, and painted over it, but the body of the original painting still comes through in texture.

loosely connected 2009 10"x 10" mixed media

This is my favorite version of these two birds (so far). The taller one looks so regal, confident, yet gentle, and the smaller one looks captivated, like she's moving in just a little closer.



holding down the fort 2009 10"x 10" mixed media

This painting illustrates the beauty of looking after one another. We all have off days, and we're fortunate if we have someone to hold down the fort until we're able to pull ourselves back up.

cardboard bird 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

Cardboard serves as the backdrop to this piece. It's the cardboard that lined my painting work space for a long time. All of the colors and materials that gathered on it over time inspired me to do something purposefully artistic with it.

so pretty vintage music bird 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

The bird in this piece is made from vintage sheet music to the song I feel pretty.

transparent bird 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

This piece is a combination of spray and acrylic paint, with pencil.

cardboard bird (original) 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

Again, this piece is made from the cardboard that lined my painting work space, mounted on plywood.



lemon drop ice cream birds 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

I saw some colors somewhere that inspired me to do a little landscape scene, and the birds were an after-thought. They are created from photos of homemade lemon drop ice cream from a vintage cookbook.

untitled 2009 8"x 10" mixed media

These are two of my favorite birds and they appear over and over again in many of my pieces, usually together, but sometimes alone.

out to lunch 2009 8"x 10" mixed media

This piece, a favorite theme of mine, illustrates the comedy that life truly is. The bird is fashioned out of a recipe for duck (I think) out of a vintage cookbook.

this moment 2009 11"x 14" mixed media

I'd like to tell you that the title is clever, but it actually doesn't even originally belong to this piece. The title card had already been made for a piece I intended to show, but changed my mind at the last moment. Instead of making a new card to perfectly match the other 35+ cards that had been made, I decided to stick this title to this piece instead, and since I'm a firm believer in "no accidents", it seems fitting. The birds are made from excerpts of a story from a vintage book for girls.




good as gold 2009 8"x 10" mixed media

This painting is created from an upcycled canvas and the gold interlace type design on the wings is gold leaf paint.




barbwire bird 2009 8"x 8" mixed media

The bird in this piece is made from an excerpt of a story about Joan of Arc from a vintage book.

luke warm vanilla bird 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

The bird is fashioned out of a recipe from a vintage cookbook, and you can see the "lukewarm vanilla" in his body.

all in the game called love 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

The birds are made from dessert recipes from a vintage cookbook (delicious), and they stand uneasy upon barbed wire (ouch). The back drop is a red poppy mimicking a heart (nice), yet they look at one another with connection and tension (?). All of this is part of the "game called love", like Gregory Isaacs notes in his song from one of my all time favorite albums, Call Me Collect. *hey, do we still call them albums?

? 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

I don't remember what this one was titled, and I don't have record of it. The bird is fashioned out of a vintage cookbook recipe, and he holds a heart made from vintage sheet music.



sing 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

The bird is made from painted vintage sheet music, hence the name.

three little birds 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

The birds are made from bronze spray painted sheet music, and the title is a reminder of the stoic "don't worry about a thing" attitude we all should practice.

paintings

map tree 2009 8"x 8" mixed media

This little piece incorporates vintages round bits of map paper as the blossoms to this tree.

forest bird 2009 8"x 8" mixed media

The bird in this painting is a "recipe" for hand knit gloves from a vintage book for girls.

when life hands you lemons 2009 24"x 24" mixed media

The birch trees in this piece happened as a result to experimentation (I love when that happens), and the birds [and lemon] are fashioned out of vintage paper, actually rules to the game Clue. The consummate optimist may not even notice the lemon in the tree, revealing they may be a natural maker of lemonade.



no where to run 2007 12"x 12" acrylic

This piece is a depiction of the beauty that sometimes seems just beyond the horizon, yet we are unable to run toward it because we are stuck on a track running circles, due to outside or internal limitations.

view from my room too 2008 22"x 28" mixed media

This is a reproduction of a piece that originally was more realistic and hung in my room for some time, hence the name.

plywood bird paintings archive

lucky number 5 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

This piece features a bird made out of vintage paper that reads an excerpt from a story about Joan of Arc. I found this round paper with the number 5 on it, and I thought it looked nice incorporated into this work. It's not my lucky number, but I figured it must be someone's, maybe the person who purchased it?

under the weather 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

The bird in this piece is fashioned out of paper from a vintage cookbook, and is actually the directions to folding a fancy napkin. I like how this piece is delicately morbid, kind of like life. Making the ugly pretty, or the pretty ugly--same/same.

by-product bird 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

I named this piece as a clue to its content. The cardboard that serves as the background to this painting sat under my paint work area for a long time. It collected all my favorite colors and materials and when I was ready to replace it, I thought it would make a nice additive to some of my work.

joan of arc blue bird 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

This painting features a bird made out of paper from a vintage book--an excerpt of a story about Joan of Arc.

paintings

hootenanny 22"x 28" 2008 mixed media

This piece features pink sprayed vintage sheet music as the flowers that are sprinkled about the painted blossoms. It was named by my daughter who was really into the word hootenanny at the time.

is it really love? 2008 16"x 36" mixed media

This painting is based off of a photograph I took, and ponders one of life's most perplexing dilemmas. Also, the delicate leaf buds are fashioned out of vintage sheet music sprayed bronze.

the king and i 2008 18"x 24" mixed media

This painting is adapted from a photo a friend of mine took. It's a step away from the work I usually produce, but something about this king is compelling so I had to give it a try.

black velvet 2008 14"x 18" mixed media

This painting is based off of a photograph of a puppy from a vintage book, and when I finished it I thought it looked tacky--hence the name.

doodle 22"x 28" mixed media

This piece is basically a giant doodle, similar to doodling on a phone book while talking on the phone, but painted instead.