I am excited to debut a new body of work in Spectrum, a group show at Andra Norris Gallery showcasing a kaleidoscope of color! Rooted in my Birds and Teacups paintings, this new series features birds and teacups but ensconced in a curiosity cabinet filled with specimens, artifacts, collectables and kitsch – all laced together with an underlying narrative of courtship, lust, obsession, life and death.

In this rosewood moon cabinet, I have created a home for a pair of Vermilion Flycatchers. Their genus name, Pyrocephalus, means "fire-headed" and I've designed much of this painting around that theme, with yellow and red flame-like glass and ceramics, matches, a bundle of matches, a flask of gun-power, a shotgun shell and a cap gun littering their nursery amongst the ceramic, carved stone, and glass, including a red sand timer draining away. The male Vermilion Flycatcher is known to bring special gifts to his mate like butterflies and beetles. From prehistoric times red seeds would attract birds. I have my male bringing his mate a string of coral beads. A very rare sighting in Northern California, I have Holly Lane, exceptional painter, sculptor and wildlife photographer, to thank for letting me use her amazing photographs of this wayward Vermilion Flycatcher.