2019, fabric, papers, stamps, ink, beads, thread, string, size is as tall as me with my hands up in the air when I’m in “tree pose”.

In our back garden, we have four unruly trees which we love because they are trees, of course, but also because they block out the neighbours! Sometimes, the neighbours complain that the trees are dripping too much sap into their gardens and ask us to trim them. I can respect this.  The trees probably need it,  if you live in a city, that is.  Every time we do this though, they look raped of life.  Nests are exposed to the elements  It is very disturbing.  

Bark is an under-appreciated wonder of a tree.  It is patterned but not repeating. This bark is made of negative space from where I cut out the subject of a stamp and  used other fabrics to fill it up.   Then I completely inked it with my gorgeous Sennelier inks.  The nest is a midden that only makes sense to a bird. But it is safe and important to that bird. When we trim the trees, the nests are exposed and naked. Although I don’t particularly like our pigeons, I do feel sad about this situation.   To come completely clean, actually, the worst was Mr. and Mrs. Magpie’s nest. They had spent days making a nest together and it was really unusable.  Pigeons don’t make such deluxe nests as this one.  The point is: everyone deserves to have a safe home.