BIRDS NOW AND THEN

Mom loved to go watch the grackles flock for the night. We would find a location then at sunset or so, drive there and watch the raucous thousands descending on some poor shopping center. The roar and the acrobatic ballet, seemingly perfectly choreographed. In her growing dementia, she took joy in spotting birds by the roadside or in our yard. When she moved to the nursing home, my brother Riley installed two feeders outside her window which I fed daily. Mom's gone but I still feed the birds at the nursing home. Residents and staff wave and greet me. The sky dancers magically riding the wind, landing and leaving on telepathic cues. 

GOLDEN CHEEK WARBLER, 22" x 28", acrylic on canvas

GRACKLE, SUNFLOWER, BEES 4" x 4", acrylic on canvas

ILLUSTRATED POEM-SUNFLOWERS

Actually, the paintings came first then the poem. I am a visual thinker, not to say, a visionary.

SUNFLOWERS

Meandering clumps.

Mismatched

Giants, sporting

Umber foot fringe

Of low sun-starved leaves.

broad umbrellas

Surround haloed faces

day-old, bowing with their brilliant bonnets,

others stretching, fresh new born brave

Their silent song screaming.

Then straining in the shadows

The frail, limp and under-grown

 circling between

The massive stalks.

Birds sway, bounce and feed

On these wild volunteers.

One year, shrunken survivors,

Then this wet Spring, giants

in this silent opera. 

LEAVING THE CITY, 36" x 24", acrylic on canvas

The Google self-drive car is in my neighborhood. I've seen it 4 or 5 times. That started me to thinking about changes.This is my painting about dramatic changes. Leaving one place for another. 

DOLL AND WALL

DOLL AND WALL, 30" x 24"

Looking through old photographs and notes, I found a note that I had done over 150 paintings with cinderblocks as an element. I painted a lot of dolls, too. Metaphors.