Avian Architecture

Windblown

9x12in  egg tempera   For sale through the gallery*

Phew - it is over. Life will resume its normal flow.
First, I need to thank some people.
I had a wonderful friend drive 500 miles RT to come and
take care of the meals for several days. Her name is Pam Cox
and she deserves a friendship gold medal!
She happens to be a gourmet cook so good food
was plentiful. Thank you very much, Pam.
Another friend made me some fabulous postcards with images on them
to hand out. This was managed during a difficult time for her.
A big thank you to Marjorie Van Dormolen.
Lindy Bridgers made 4 dozen nests from chocolate covered rice noodles
and popped a little candy egg in the center. What a wonderful friend.
Lisa Kubiak gave me a gorgeous necklace made by a local artist of a
silver nest with three pearls. Perfect for the opening and lots of
admiring comments were given. Thank you Lisa.
My wonderful daughter who gave me valuable critiques drove in
as did son #1 and my darling goddaughter.
A huge thank you of course to Gail, Mark and Max at the gallery. They
had wonderful refreshments and champagne. The show was hung beautifully.
They kept their cool right up to the last minute delivery of
a huge wet painting. Great people.

Thursday, May 2nd was my opening reception.
The invitation was large at  6x8in  (first class postage!)
I used the photo (below) of some of my nests and you can see a
couple of my paintings - in both the top corners.
I did a large ard so it would get noticed between the junk mail.

Artist Note

I had no idea how the public would react to a show strictly on bird nests,
but it turned out that it was a very popular theme.
The show was a collection from three years of painting these amazing
avian structures, strictly for personal pleasure. I enjoy building them
with paint the way the birds do using different materials. It is a puzzle
why I respond to nests so emotionally, but I truly do. I can clearly remember
trying to draw one I could see from the window when I was about 6.
The bird was not as fascinating as the nest and it is still the same today.

Some of my first paintings on this blog were several
of the nests included in the show.
Below are a few wonderful nests from my collection - the one in the
painting above them is a Sandhill Crane Nest. 48x36in

Tomorrow I will show some of the watercolors I did.

My last thank you is for my supportive group of blogging friends.
I have missed you and I am looking forward to trolling
to see what you all have been up to.

*M Phillips Gallery phone number
575-525-1367