Extending my pursuit of using color as a way to show time, this ongoing series documents the plumage colors of birds migrating through Central Park in NYC during a year. Choosing three colors from each subject, they offer an essence of that species. Before beginning a painting, I study the call/song and movements of the particular bird with a desire to demonstrate fidelity to that species. The bands and blocks of color on translucent slabs of plexiglass mimic some of my experiences as a novice birdwatcher; a color appears but then seems to disappear as the bird moves, and a color not seen suddenly appears as the viewer moves. The interaction of materials selected for this project allows the colors to be visibly separate in some places and optically mixed in others. Juxtaposing areas of color with unpainted areas of the translucent panel references the air-like realm in which the birds exist. The size and shape of the color blocks on the panel reference that bird’s characteristics, such as the long thin aigrette feathers of the Great Egret, which appear only during its breeding season.
Great Egret, 10 x 24 x .75 inches, acrylic on cast acrylic, 2022