The Spread Your Wings Collection

Launched Friday, November 13th, 2020

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In my last series, I turned to painting hummingbirds as a source of joy and light during a truly challenging year. What a vacation from the craziness of the world! But they haven’t been the only species in my studio this year. Hummingbirds often nest near large birds of prey for protection, and so the unlikely but fitting combination of these two very different bird families has been guiding me through this tumultuous year.

Over the last few months of insecurity and uncertainty, I found myself drawn to the incredible strength, adaptability, and intense focus of raptors. I felt their majestic freedom while sketching and painting my local eagles, hawks, kites, falcons, and owls. Inspired by oversized Renaissance frescoes, large work like this was my first love as an artist and where I feel very much at home. It feels empowering to make the giant strokes that define these tough, confident creatures. 

Raptors have a powerful presence in any room and are the perfect subject for large living room statement pieces. They bring an immediate sense of strength and courage to a space.

My Process

My deep-dive during quarantine developed a long-term relationship with these birds and some fellow bird lovers. I connected with birders and photographers. I researched and sketched not just the birds, but their environments and food sources. The work became more calm and confident as my relationship with them deepened and I discovered how to capture their essence.

First, I collected and made prints of raptor photos that spoke to me. As an artist painting wildlife, I was looking for images that captured gestures displaying their personalities, their powerful anatomies in action; focused eyes, razor-sharp talons, distinctive crushing beaks. Then, my medium took a departure from the playful and loose watercolor playground of the hummingbirds in my last series.

“I reached for rich pastels and deep charcoal when approaching the raptors in order to better capture their extraordinary texture, purposeful movement, and intense stillness. ”