Birch Forest No. 7

I was born in upstate New York in 1968. My family lived in a quaint suburban neighborhood of tree-lined streets. From my mother's brightly colored 1970s decor that mixed avocado-green hues with aqua and rust, to her owl figurine collection (which I have since inherited and added to), to the vast birch forests that butted up against the edges of our neighborhood, the colors and sights of my early days left an indelible mark on my psyche. Birch Forest No. 7 (my seventh and by far the smallest birch forest painting) and Owl No. 1 are part of Little Pink Houses, a body of work created with my friend and fellow artist, Mati McDonough. We conceived the collaboration upon discovering our mutual love for John Cougar Mellencamp's famous melody. Little Pink Houses is an homage to many of our mutual loves, including the color pink, all things of the forest and our "idyllic" childhoods living in suburbia.