It's beginning's were inspired by an innocent pair of lovebirds and their magnificently colored plumage and the memory of a parent.

As a result of my father's cancer diagnosis, he asked if I would take and care for his birds. My father has always loved and kept birds, from fancy pigeons and doves to the parakeets and canaries of my childhood memories. But about 20 or so years ago he fell in love with these little parrots, called lovebirds, and has kept and raised them ever since.

By this time, I was no longer living at home with my parents, and so my interaction with his birds was limited. Until this pair, his last pair of birds came to live with me. With his almost daily calls to see how they were doing, instructions, and general advice on their care; All motivated, my curiosity to do nothing other than to stare at them — focusing my attention on their plumage and coloring. The subtle yet distinctive, blending of colors all set upon these little birds, I found them so exciting and mesmerizing.

One day while I was painting, I unknowingly mixed a few colors, and I saw a slight resemblance to those beautiful, intoxicating colors. As the days went on, I experimented and exaggerated those colors, and every time I did so, I felt closer to the love my father must have had for these birds, the days he must have spent looking at those same mesmerizing colors, as he went about caring for his beloved parrots. And in so realizing, that love and beauty can be found everywhere but how abstract it all is in terms of how it comes about.

Large 5 foot by 4 foot Canvas. Mixed Media, oil pastel.