Welcome to my website collection of original block prints & etchings
&
3 owl tree's online store
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.
All of my work is printed by hand and each piece is individually watercolored.
Looking for something specific? Enter key words into the search box to find a specific bird or scene.
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winter festival & crafts fairdecember 2nd & 3rd
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new work
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.
Nuthatches & waxwings
A hike among the Ponderosa pines on a hot summer day. We stopped to rest and were gifted with the visit of a flock of nuthatches. Moving quickly, a fleeting moment.
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Cedar waxwings gorge on the fruit of a Pacific crabapple. Tips of their tail feathers a vivid yellow as if dipped in paint.
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pileated woodpecker
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.
A Forest Haunt.
western grebe - stiletto billed diver
I was inspired by a Western grebe diving through heavy surf in a winter storm at La Push. This grebe is often called the swan of the grebes with its elegant long neck.
Winter in the marsh
Through the winter they stood, usually folded into their wings with only a top-knot of feathers visible.
With flyovers of a bald eagle the herons unfolded, all beaks pointed skyward tracking its flight.
With flyovers of a bald eagle the herons unfolded, all beaks pointed skyward tracking its flight.
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. A counterpoint to isolation as we traveled the unknown of a pandemic. |
events
coffee shop showsSeptember & October 2023
Herkimer Coffee 7320 Greenwood Ave N Seattle |
fall showsBest of the Northwest
November 10-12, 2023 Hangar 30, Magnuson Park Seattle PNA Winter Festival
December 2-3, 2023 Phinney Neighborhood Center |
LOON & OWL
Each print is an original
printed by hand in black ink and watercolored individually
Mount Rainier
Inspiration for this block print came from a stunning photo taken during a snowshoe hike. The route was along the North side above Paradise led by an accomplished mountaineer. A pair of Clark's nutcrackers survey the winter landscape. These intelligent birds have stashes of thousands of conifer seeds for winter forage, most of which they retrieve though buried in snow. The rest are left to grow.
nesting colony
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.
tidepool banquet
Black oystercatchers forage ocean tidepools feasting on limpets, mussels and other marine organisms. Their flight is punctuated with a distinct whistling call. Pairs stay together year round, their vivid orange-red powerful beaks stand out against the grey of winter.
Summer on the River
with rough-winged swallows
While we camped along the Chewuch River a family of 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.
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.
More distant crane ancestors reach back 9 million years. It is one of the oldest bird species still in existence.
Night Heron - A Wetland Hunter
The black-crowned night heron feeds in the dim light of dusk and dawn. Its call is bit like a chihuahua, the sound a short sharp bark. Seems like all the heron family have an unexpected voice.
Warbler Migration
Spring visitors arrived outside my studio window, feeding on the flowers of the vine maple.
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.
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.
Titles record the date I sketched an individual paused on a corner waiting for a light to change or walking down a street in Seattle.