My current work seeks to accurately portray ornithological subjects using vintage book pages as both the inspiration and substrate onto which the birds are depicted. While the birds are depicted in a realistic manner the work retains a painterly quality with a combination of fine detail juxtaposing against evident brushwork and looser form.
My technique involves painting in acrylic in thin layers building up the form with layered feather details. At times some of the text may show through the paint in an almost shadowy way that binds the bird to the page but also contributes to the underlying feather details.
The use of vintage book pages as the substrate brings an underlying story to the piece through the history of the books themselves which is often evident in the imperfect nature of the paper with blemishes, marks, creases and wear.
While the birds in some works can have an easily identifiable, even a direct link to the page content (as an example depicting a bird using the identification page from a field guide) others can have more discrete and even an intangible relationship to the page contents.
Using a page from a field guide pays homage to the history of field guides and their use by birders whether professional or hobbyist. The use of field guides as a substrate for the piece also references the work of artists in the past who made field guides a work of art in themselves and builds on the relationship that we have with using a field guide to identify birds in our surroundings.
