Owl Boy and Tula/Merlin

2020, 30”L x 41”W, hand-dyed cotton fabric, machine-quilted, hand-embellished.

This is one of the Birds Are My People series, Inspired by my time as the artist in residence at the Audubon Birds of Prey Center in Maitland, FL. I draw the birds there every week. The birds in the Center that stay and are not rehabilitated for release in the wild become my models as Bird Ambassadors. Merlin is a barred owl who lost his eye in an accident. The boy is holding a toy owl that my mother made, and I found in her sewing basket after she passed. The two are having a conversation.

The face and chest of the owl were dyed with rust. His face was made with the flywheel of a junked automobile.