bird & brush series
This new series of stories & images is a collaboration between Brian & Fia. It began with Fia combing through Brian's older canvases, struck by a few that have layers upon layers of paint, revealing only pieces of a much longer story. As she wondered how they might create this same sense on wood, she remembered one of her favorite children's books, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris van Allsburg, in which readers are treated to only one sentence of a story they then must then step in and finish.
Add to this Brian's fascination with texture & fibre & natural erosion of paint on buildings over time, and the two were off & running. Fia sat down to write, while Brian experimented with color & texture in order to capture the geology of time through layers.
On each of these pieces, there are at least 9 layers of gesso, graphite, handwriting, & pigment on each piece of reclaimed hardwood chosen for the arblocks. Only 1 layer is UV printed as a guide for the final details, all other layers are done by hand (including a secret wish for the recipient that is hand written somewhere in the middle of the process).
Each is available as a print & either an artblock or a storyblock.
