Blog

Early in the summer, when I first opened the door to my Summer Studio, my friend Joel Lautenbach dropped by to take a look.

“Birds?” he queried.

“Yep,” I replied, “They keep flying onto the canvas.”

“I see,” Joel said, “Like, ‘Put a bird on it.’ Like on Portlandia.”

Not having seen more than a couple of episodes of the show on Netflix, but nevertheless wanting to seem cool, I mumbled, “Sure … I guess.” And so I wrote down on my painting table what seemed like a clever quip, “Put a bird on it.” When people noticed I was painting a lot of birds, I’d laugh and say, “Yeah, I’m putting a bird on it.”

Over the course of the summer, I learned that my birds had been invited to fly to Ann Arbor for an exhibit as part of the Michigan Medicine Gifts of Art Program. I would have the opportunity to fill more than ten 4 x 8’ panels with paintings of birds. From then on, every spare moment has found me developing the soulful body of work I call “Flights of Fancy.” From representational to abstract, each painting expresses a different aspect of my relationship to the spirit, forms and colors of my avian friends. And, being me, I’ve created a lot more bird works than will actually hang in the show. (A number have already flown to new homes!) “Put a bird on it,” indeed!

A couple of weeks ago I took time off from painting (birds!) to visit the Frankfort Art Fair. There I found myself in conversation with a fiber artist, Leah Dziewit, (BTW, she makes the best dyed silk cowls I’ve found—I was stocking up for cooler weather.) We’d met before and I was telling her about how the birds came to find me last November, back when I found painting my birds a welcome relief from other sorts of tweets.

“Oh, you’re putting a bird on it,” said Leah, grinning. “That’s the winning formula of arts & crafts fairs: if you’re having trouble selling something, put a bird on it. Like in Portlandia.”

Sure, enough, as I strolled around the fair I saw cute birds everywhere. I then realized I needed to actually watch the “Put a Bird on It” Portlandia episode and not just go around quoting it. (Unlike me, you’ve probably have already seen it! But if not, you can watch it too! ) I’m so grateful I never saw the episode before I started painting my birds—my terror of triteness would have stopped me in my tracks.

I do love the birds I’m now getting ready for the trip to the Big Ten U of M. To me these bird paintings are way more interesting than trite and definitely not cute. But you should judge for yourself. The exhibit will hang from September 18 – December 10 in the Gifts of Art Gallery, North Taubman Health Center, Floor 1.  And, if you won’t be in the area, you can see many of the paintings from the show, and the ones that aren’t flying south, on my website, by clicking here. And, if you have a wall, let me know if you want to put a bird on it …. I have lots!