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"Onward and Upward II"
20 x 48"
Acrylic on Board, 2005
Steller's Jays
$8,500
How to buy
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In 2004 some of my very best collectors offered me use of their cabin in Pinecrest, where I did precious little but sit on a porch for an entire three day weekend, marveling at the parade of birds that visited the feeders. Of particular interest was a suet feeder frequented by Western Tanagers and Steller’s Jays. Both had the convenient habit of landing on the deck railing for a brief moment before fluttering up under the feeder and snatching a bite in mid-air. This predictability of behavior allowed me to photograph them in flight (long before I had a camera with an auto shutter feature), and the “Onward and Upward” series is the result. In “Onward and Upward II,” I was most interested in showing the progression of the birds from sharply painted in the lower portion of the piece, to loose and gestural at the top. I wanted to suggest the flurry of motion, the blur of wings, and the transition from hyperrealistic to suggestive, to nearly abstract, as well as from “finished” to “unfinished” does the work handsomely. Given these interests, it’s no wonder that the background takes on a supporting role, the dark, upsweeping shape echoing the movement of the birds as clearly as the background space reflects the colors of their plumage.
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