BLUEBIRD & BAMBOO
ACRYLICS ON CEDAR W/RED OAK FRAME
SUMMER 2012

     This is a decorative piece intended for a narrow wall.  I planned to do it before our trip to Toronto and drew the plans for the frame before we left.  I wanted to paint a Voysey-style bird, tall and narrow, but modified it to get a more pleasing shape.  I was inspired to paint bamboo after seeing Tsukiota Yoshitoshi’s 1883 wood-block print triptych “Fujiwara Yasumasa Playing the Flute Under the Moonlight” (see Ukiyo-e; 250 Years of Japanese Art, by Roni Neuer, Herbert Libertson, and Susugu Yoshida, ©1979, pages 364-367).  I made the Japanese-inspired frame out of red oak using pegged, hand-joined, mortise-and-tenon construction methods.  I used the Japanese technique (shou-sugi-ban) of charring and oiling the oak to finish the frame.

DIMENSIONS:     HEIGHT: 28 inches
                           WIDTH:  15 inches

                                                               PRICE $350