Maps mark a moment and a place in that moment. For those of us who grew up pre-Google Maps, a paper map was an essential navigation tool. Think for a second about those maps. Maybe one map particularly. I bet you can remember the trip you took; the places and people visited, the smell of the ocean or lake or even the color the sky. If it’s been long enough and you were to return things might look quite different. That restaurant on the corner that served the second-best fried chicken (of course your Granny’s was the best…) might not be there. The landscape may have changed by development or shaped by weather. Regardless, that moment, that place is alive again. You can hear your Grandfather’s voice telling you about something he and his Grandfather used to see in that same spot.
Maps are an essential element to my paintings and I use a variety. Some are digital that I can get from the USGS or the NOAA and manipulate in Photoshop to enhance color or give a bit of texture. Others are your basic pre-1970 road map that I dye with watercolor or acrylic washes. The map sets the background to the story.
Now, the birds. They are the stars of my pieces that are part of a series called Maps & Legends. I’ve only been painting birds since 2011. It was more of an exercise to see if I could paint again as I had been working exclusively in digital for almost a decade. I’m Southern and as you can tell storytelling is in my blood. I wasn’t always this “into” birds, but they’re at the periphery of memory waiting for me to notice. The diving swoosh of the Common Nighthawk (my Dad called them Bull Bats) late in the evening right at sundown before the heat of the day breaks, the call of the Blue Jay after a thunderstorm with the leaves still dripping with rainwater, the sight of cattle egrets in the pasture as a tractor cuts hay, and the ever-present chatter of the Northern Mockingbird at dawn. This is the story that I’m trying to tell with each piece. It’s not just the story of me, but the legend of all of us.