I love city life, flowers and birds and always can find a way to enjoy them all at the same time. I grew up on Lake Michigan and loved to watch the sea gulls sometimes following us in our boat and gulls and sand piper on the beaches.    Having lived in Denver,  Chicago, Mexico City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Manhattan and now at the age of 70 and legally blind, I live in the National Historic District of Federal Hill in the heart of Baltimore. I live in a 150-year-old row house where I have a small 2nd-floor deck. A lilac bush grows in a claw- foot bathtub.   My challenge was to place as many flower pots with as many different flowers and vegetables and herbs as possible. 

I can see 5 or 6 other decks and backyards from my vantage point, where friends and I eat every meal possible from April to November.  Several yards have big trees with many, many birds and nests in them.


We hear many different bird calls, among them...the Mourning Doves.  I have painted flowers and birds, both realistic and fanciful, for the past twenty years, but now, this is what happened.

 

When I first went on the deck after winter, I heard a fluttering of wings and then discovered the two pristine white eggs and ran indoors for my camera.  We took breaks from whatever we were doing to go look at the birds every couple hours and take pictures.  So, I have the logical sequence of the sitting, hatching, flying away, and then one baby came back to my deck every day for a week and a half. 

I have it all in a slideshow in my computer and show it to everyone, and they all tell me about their hatching stories right here in the middle of the city near the Inner Harbor.  I knew I wanted to paint the birdie story, but not in the real sequence:  I already had the photographs for that.   This was the beginning...

I took a course in how to market and sell my artwork, "Beyond the Easel,"  taught by my dear career artist friend Rosetta DeBernaradinis.  She encouraged me to first, get a story, then plan a body of art work that was cohesive to carry out the story.  I already had written the story of the Mourning Dove Family: Miracle on My Deck.  I had already taken a series of photographs of the natural progression of this miracle.  The only thing left to do was to paint a series of whimsical and humorous painting in acrylics with collage, real feathers, nests, eggs, etc., even an actual white doorknob and key on the painting with the red door.  I was smiling the whole time I was painting.  When Rosetta saw my work, she referred me to you and your wonderful project.

Your project is so important.  So many people don't see birds and nature in urban environments because they don't take the time to look for them or to help preserve them.  As I understand it, in the U.S. we have tipped the balance and more people now live in cities than in rural areas, so we must make a greater effort to educate people about...and preserve our urban birds for our mutual enjoyment, both  the birds' and ours.