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&

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Below I've illustrated my process. Through sketches and photographs I find my way as a quiet visitor into a bird's space seeking to portray the spirit of birds in their natural habitat. With each original creation, I hope to convey a sense of delight, connection, and peace.

Looking for something specific? Enter key words into the search box to find what a specific bird or scene.

summer fairs
Wedgwood art Festival July 9 & 10
Art in the garden - ballard p-patch August 6

New work!

Black oystercatcher studies in charcoal and conté crayon. Preliminary studies, an essential exercise to capture a bird's interaction with its environment.

Carved block ready to print in black ink.

Tidepool Banquet: image: 21" x 10"

For this piece I have referenced my collection of tidepool photos and waves from Second Beach by LaPush. I was missing images of oystercatchers in flight or calling out. Tom Grey has an encyclopedic collection of photos at www.tgreybirds.com. which he gave permission to use as inspiration.

nesting colony

This piece was inspired by a photo generously shared by a local photographer kayaking the slough. He captured the colony of nesting cormorants perched atop the pilings, remnants of another time. Mt. Baker in the distance marks its unique location.

Steamboat Slough: image: 10" x 21"

Winter's work

Watching the herons in the Edmonds Marsh over the Winter taught me a little about the patience, fortitude and perseverance required to survive as a bird.
In all weather they stood usually folded into their wings with only a top-knot of feathers visible to give a clue to the odd postures.
About all that seemed to rouse them were flyovers by a bald eagle which put every bird on alert...
All beaks pointed skyward till that taloned predator had passed by.

Long after the eagle had passed heads stayed out from under wings as they'd huddle watchful in the grasses.

Winter Vigil: 18" x 7"

more new work

It was a delight to see wood ducks in late winter drifting in the waters of the Arboretum. Courtship a few weeks away.

Bewick's Wren: 6" diameter

The wren, a garden visitor flitting through the dried flowers of the climbing hydrangea.

Reflection: 8" x 14"

Varied Thrush: 6" diameter

The call of the varied thrush, a sweet reward for morning coffee taken in the chill of dawn's early light.

Winter Flight: 10" x 21"

Winter Heron: 6" diameter

Pen and ink heron studies

'One hundred Herons'
A Winter project, 100 pen & ink studies of herons. Working from photos taken at the Edmonds Marsh in its Winter beauty of soft browns, greys and silvers as the tide flows in and out. Herons hunkered down amongst the reeds and grasses solitary yet congregating. Anatomy a mystery hidden in feathered plumes, neck folded, head tucked alongside and feet anchored in mud...
A meditation.

Warbler Migration

Warbler Migration: 9" x 16"

Pen & ink drawings from photos taken over several days as Audubon and Wilson's warblers visited the vine maple outside my studio window in spring. These are preliminary drawings to become familiar with a bird before composing a block. I use a dip pen and only work in ink. If I use a pencil I know I will fuss and erase and get totally hung up. Lots of smudges, but it's a great exercise in observation. A few made it into the final block of 'Spring Migration'.

Raised on the River 7" x 18"

Summer on the River

While we camped along the Chewuch River a family of rough-winged swallows were nesting in a riverbank tunnel beneath our campsite. We watched for two weeks as the parents vanished through the tangle of roots into the nest hole, bugs clenched in their beaks, swiftly exiting to capture more. Then suddenly all was quiet. The family had left the nest with the fledglings now in feeding positions along a bare limb. Each patiently waiting their turn.

Click on all images to enlarge.

Nest Watch 4" x 8.5"

Riverbank nest tunnel

Rough-winged swallows - the parents.

The fledglings on a limb.

Each print is an original
printed in black ink and hand watercolored

Most of my images are from experiences with birds recorded with photos and sketches on site in my garden, local Seattle parks, the Methow River Valley in Eastern Washington and the ocean beaches of the Northwest Coast.
My intaglio pieces include a collection of small drypoints featuring individual birds and an extensive series of etchings featuring people from my Commuter Journals.

Red-breasted Nuthatches

Fleeting Moment 7" x 18"

Habitat is context!

Nuthatch in ponderosa pine

Forest Sprite 6" diameter

A fleeting moment!
These capture a magical encounter we had while hiking in pondersosa pine forest near the Chewuch River. A flock gathered close in the trees around where we'd paused to rest in the heat of a summer day.

Shorebird Migration

As I carved this block I was transported back into sunlight, sounds of surf and the wonderment as multitudes of birds whizzed past. It was migration time along the Pacific Coast - Leadbetter Point on the Long Beach Peninsula.
So many blurred photos, but I came home with a cache from which to work.

Surfing: 21" x 10"

Cedar Waxwings

October harvest in Willapa Bay - a flock of cedar waxwings enjoys the fruit of a Pacific crabapple.

The Pacific crabapple is the only native crabapple in the Northwest.

The Harvest: 7" x 18"

Western Grebe - Stiletto Billed Diver

Famous for their exquisite mating dance, it is sometimes referred to as the 'Swan Grebe' with its elegant long neck. Its feet are located so far back on their body that walking on land is a rare sight, though not impossible.
The beauty of the white breast feathers, considered fashionable to adorn women's hats, nearly led to the extinction of these lovely birds in the early 1900's.

Eye of the Storm: 19" x 10"

Western Grebe diving in the surf along the shore of LaPush. Click on the photos for a closer look..

Such a waterbird!

This photo inspired the block print 'Free Form'

The position of the grebe's feet make it such powerful diver.

Common Loon

A long ago canoe trip in the Boundary Waters, loon calls haunting the night inspired
Moon Song.

Moon Song: 6" x 12"

Owl Moon Series

Small portraits: 4" diam

Owl Moon: Northern Spotted Owl: 4" diam

Great Gray Owl

Inspired by a photo in Paul Bannick's book: Owl: A Year in the Lives of North American Owls.
By permission of author.

Three Owl Tree: 9.5" x 12"

Night Heron - A Wetland Hunter

Black-crowned Night Heron: 7" x 18"

The black-crowned night heron feeds in the dim light of dusk and dawn. This one is hunting by the light of a full moon rising over Spring Pond in Michigan. Its call is bit like a chihuahua, the sound a short sharp bark. Seems like all the heron family have an unexpected voice.

Wetland Palette, a sampling of some of the watercolors used in this piece.

Often I embarrass myself with the quantity of photos I take, but they become an invaluable resource as I struggle to compose a block and later to paint the black and white print!

pileated woodpecker

Forest Haunt: 21" x 9.5"

Camping along the Chewuch River. August heat and the aroma of ponderosa pine. I wonder which bird will show up. Barely saw the pileated woodpecker blasting through the forest across the river. Back and forth everyday, a flash of red, its wild call piercing the screen of ponderosa, cedar, cottonwood and firs.
A Forest Haunt.

Being part of a flock

Sanderlings dart between waves, digging into the wet sand racing along the ocean shore between waves. Such a distinct behavior as they move in a flock, seeming to be as atuned to each other as they are to the hunger that drives their dance with the waves.
In the multiple photos I realized one was still consuming a marine warm as it kept pace with the moving flock. Had to include it in the print below!

Wave Runners: 18" x 7"

Sandhill cranes

These fascinating birds have an ancient history with fossils clearly identifiable from 2.5 million years ago.
More distant crane ancestors reach back 9 million years. It is one of the oldest bird species still in existence.
I was lucky to have an encounter with a resident group in the Reifel Bird Sanctuary in BC.
I am posting a few photos along with the watercolored block prints inspired by the experience.
Click on image to enlarge.

Promenade: 7" x 18"

They are tall, can be aggressive and have a huge voice. Several walked past me close enough to touch (I didn't). A fabulous bird.

Their claws are strong and hard. When needed their legs and beaks are powerful weapons as they strike out at a rival in courtship or defend their young.

The beak has small serrations along the edge. It is heavy enough to penetrate the cranium of a smaller mammal (s.a. fox) that might prey on young.

Sandhill Sunset: 6" x 18"

Intaglio: Drypoints

These images are drawn directly on small (2" x 3") copper plates. The marks create depressions in the copper. Ink is applied and the plate is run through a press which transfers the ink to paper. After the print dries I apply watercolor.

Chickadee

Anna's Hummingbird

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Mountain Bluebird - female

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Intaglio: Commuter Journals

These etchings are done on copper plates (3" x 9") and feature individuals sketched over a period of years during my commute across town. A variety of techniques are employed including aquatint and soft ground. These create a resist on the plate through which I draw with tools that expose the metal plate. The plate is dipped in a ferric chloride bath. This corrodes the metal, leaving marks that hold ink transferring it to BFK Rives paper when the plate is run through a press. Once a print has dried, I apply watercolor creating varied clothing and background colors.