Title: Songs of Birds in the City
Year: December 2020
Size: 18’’x24’’
Technique: Mixed Media on watercolor paper

‘Songs of Birds in the City’ is an abstract landscape and my interpretation of the city of Bangkok, Thailand from a limited perspective.

The history of ‘Songs of Birds in the City’
This piece was created back in December of 2020 during a 15-night solo quarantine downtown Bangkok, Thailand. I stayed in the heart of the city upon returning from a 3 week trip to California to see my Dad, Mom and sisters during the first year of the global pandemic. When leaving stateside on November 27th 2020, I knew that it would be the last time I would see my Dad in physical space. 💔 He had battled stage 4 cancer for 18 months. The time in quarantine for me was a liminal space. A space between home and ho-me. My home and family in California (Mom, Dad & sisters) and my home and family in Thailand (partner & 3 young children). To say it pulled on my heart strings is an understatement. 💔 So what did I do…? I made art. I made a lot of art. And talked to my family and friends on FaceTime.❤️

About the process of creating ‘Songs of Birds in the City’…
My room on the 30th floor provided a spectacular view of inspiration for painting and creating. As a mom of three tiny humans, it is rare to have space, time alone and silence. Each morning I opened the window to my room and listened to the outside sounds while viewing all the tiny details of city life. I captured the songs of the birds as the foundation for this piece by creating patterned marks for the various bird species I heard outside my window. Additional auditory sounds from the 30th floor such as jackhammers, motorbikes, cars, etc. as well as observations of the surrounding architecture, were used as inspiration for the line work. ‘Songs of Birds' is a representation of my internal response to the external environment. The representation of making the invisible (sound) visible. A representation of capturing a brief pocket of time.