I've just added an Original Drawings and Paintings page to my website, starting with a feature on a new series I'm calling 'Bird Games.' I'll continue my colorful prints of Philly, Travel Scenes, FLEURS, etc with enthusiasm, but I'll be adding more and more original works on paper.
My love of working on good paper with simple tools - in this case an ink pen and watercolor pencils - goes way back. I've always believed in the conversation approach to art - I have my ideas, but the paper and the materials get to have their say too. In the case of my Game Birds I begin with my characteristic loose ink lines corralled into a grid for a semblance of order, layer pencil colors for a rich background, and give a lighter layer of varied colors on the birds. What brings it all to life is water - careful brushing with a small brush on the background, and swifter, more impulsive flicks and swipes on the birds. I can never be completely sure what will happen until it does (though I have good sense of the possibilities) and am usually delighted with the result. A classic case of the whole becoming more than the sum of its parts. Knowing where to stop is essential.
Who are these birds? If you've seen my INK BIRDS series of cards you know the origin - the idea of birds just stuck with me. Birds are such an interesting meld of wild, cute, sweet, and sort of strange and savage; a bit like people, perhaps. 'Bird Games' - a play on board games and game birds - places birds in a kind of 'everyman' state, where every unconscious tweak of my pen gives a new personality, emotion, attitude. Or maybe that's just my crazy perception. What do you think?
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