#heatherleebirdsong

“Down in the Valley”, 2020, acryla-gouache on paper, 3 3/8 x 2 1/8 in.

Last tiny painting from the first sheet.

#heatherleebirdsong #tinypainting #landscape #americanfolk #pandemicdreaming
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_dHQ1qhoqK/?igshid=z78n5me4d7sf

“A Time of Migrations”, 2020, acryla-gouache on paper, 3 3/8 x 2 1/8 in.

I started this one first, and it sat half-finished until I completed the 8 others on the sheet.

#migrations #tinypainting #heatherleebirdsong #miniature #landscape #pandemicdreaming
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_a9FaGh23S/?igshid=1c1xh1bwfyyuz

“Spells and Conjurations”, 2020, acryla-gouache on paper, 3 3/8 x 2 1/8 in.

I was a little intimidated by the pink background, but once I got going it was like magic.

#heatherleebirdsong #pandemicdreaming #miniature #painting #conjuration

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_YS42zBKiZ/?igshid=14bb1le3sqiwf

“O Very Well”, 2020, acryla-gouache on paper, 3 3/8 x 2 1/8 in.

I’m personally quite fond of this one.

#heatherleebirdsong #tinypainting #polygons #miniaturepainting #quarantineart
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_OMxVMBq0-/?igshid=1a3em5i1ghtcd

“Speak Softly”, 2020, acryla-gouache on paper, 3 3/8 x 2 1/8 inches.

I know posting one of these a day creates the erroneous impression that these pop up quickly. I worked on all of them simultaneously, gridded out on a single sheet of Arches hot press paper, and spent much more time on them than I imagined or intended. But then, that’s one of things I enjoy about this: there’s a reason art is often referred to simply as “work”.

#heatherleebirdsong #tinypainting #miniature #painting
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_DojxKBSJ4/?igshid=86ug0b6ks42s

Another of my mini-paintings: “Which Foot Itches”, 2020, acryla-gouache on paper, 3 3/8 x 2 1/8 inches. A warm gray polygonal shape in a little forest clearing.

The title is from Botkin’s A Treasury of American Folklore (1944), quoting Carl Sandburg’s The People, Yes: “If your right foot itches you will soon start on a journey, if it’s your left foot you will go where you are not wanted.”

#miniaturepainting #heatherleebirdsong #polygons #forestpark #carlsandburg
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_A5JOmh8FQ/?igshid=5frnldo946y6

“Absence of Mind”, 2020, acryla-gouache on paper, 3 3/8 x 2 1/8 inches. Another of my tiny paintings. Second image includes my hand for scale. A foggy, tree-covered hill over a lake - an imaginary location that is everywhere and nowhere, based on a sketchbook doodle made on a wintry drive between Portland and Eugene.

#miniaturepainting #landscape #pacificnorthwest #foggy #heatherleebirdsong
https://www.instagram.com/p/B–eXLBhL9X/?igshid=1hxlqri3jz422

“Ain’t Lost”, 2020, acryla-gouache on paper, 3 3/8 x 2 1/8 inches.

I had intended to do a bunch of these miniatures, but once again got tempted by tiny, tiny details. So I’ve made a few instead of many.

#hlbirdsong #polygons #heatherleebirdsong #quarantinepainting #miniaturepainting
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-8vMSHBkbY/?igshid=145m6gfkaby73

Detail from one of my four paintings on view in the PDX Window Project this month. Take a peek through the window on NW 9th if you’re in the neighborhood. It’s visible at all hours.

Image: We Misconstrued (detail), 2018, gouache on Arches hot press paper, 10 x 7 inches. Sold to private collection.

#heatherleebirdsong #pdxwindowproject #pdxcontemporaryart #pdxart #contemporaryart (at PDX CONTEMPORARY ART)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9caywjBfbk/?igshid=bhsqkdoulypg

Mojave with Shadow (detail), 2016. This was the first gouache work I did consciously revisiting the desert landscape of my childhood. Ironically, as realistic shadows became more important in the work, the figurative shadow became a less powerful thing. I’m off to the desert this week, to hike among the ruddy rocks and enjoy the unfriendly desert flora.

#polygons #contemporaryart #heatherleebirdsong #mojave #gouache
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8W4h81Bwhn/?igshid=4tr58mx69tzy

It Has Always Been This Way, 2020, gouache on hot-pressed paper, 24 x 18 inches (slightly cropped in this image).

My first completed painting of the year/decade: a sparse Mojave-inspired landscape, populated with silhouettes of invasive plants and a string of sharp-edged polygons. I was thinking most prominently, though not exclusively, about the fragility of life in the face of obdurate systems that perpetuate inequality and ecological destruction.

#ithasalwaysbeenthisway #heatherleebirdsong #contemporaryart #painting #gouache #polygons
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8FVi3ihjlp/?igshid=s2zy3mn0f5xu

The final details added to a painting just finished. The problem with scaling up, in addition to taking exponentially more time to complete, is that it is too large for my scanner.

#ithasalwaysbeenthisway #heatherleebirdsong #painting #polygons #gouache
https://www.instagram.com/p/B77pV53h9Kh/?igshid=8hfiuxxgmh63

Last few days to see TIME BOMBS: Art About Anxiety & Impending Disaster at Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati. If you’re in that part of the world, there’s a closing reception tomorrow, Jan. 10 from 7-9pm. Thanks for including my work @manifestgallery

#artaboutanxiety #heatherleebirdsong #contemporaryart #polygons #mediatedcommunication (at Manifest Gallery)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7Hgp-Ghq8b/?igshid=1wn3i7t2552r6

Mojave Dream, two-color reduction relief print. This is one of the APs I kept for myself. The edition is for @rainboeliza’s 10th (!) annual print exchange. I look forward to getting back prints from the other participants after the new year.

#heatherleebirdsong #smidgeonpress #rainboelizastudios #vividexchange #printmaking
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6bwfSShp9Z/?igshid=n4nrmoce3zd5

Leafy spurge exudes a sticky, toxic sap when cut. It is also invasive in the Mojave - like most of the plants I’m silhouetting in this painting. This is the kind of detail that is meaningful to me, but not necessarily important for viewers to know. I find that tension between what the artist invests and what the audience can read/know endlessly interesting - and often challenging to navigate.

#wip #invasivespecies #leafyspurge #polygons #hlbirdsong #heatherleebirdsong #ithasalwaysbeenthisway
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6CB-XmBGqv/?igshid=49saz8j1h8js

It Goes Unsaid, 2018, gouache on hot pressed paper, 7x10 inches. This little painting about communication failures and power imbalances is included in TIME BOMBS: Art About Anxiety & Impending Disaster at Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, December 12-January 10.

#timebombs #anxiety #impendingdisaster #mediatedcommunication #heatherleebirdsong (at Manifest Gallery)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5n-fMDhxC3/?igshid=h1m8r88c52we

“You must be mistaken.” 2019, gouache on paper, 11x14 inches.

I let my mistakes and brush strokes show in this one, which goes against my instincts. The gouache’s matte finish makes them less visible in reproduction, which feels both a little sad and a little funny after all my internal struggles.

#heatherleebirdsong #contemporarypainting #gaslighting #polygons #hlbirdsong #ineffableemotions (at Portland, Oregon)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1uvhh_hM7T/?igshid=belr7nj408xk

I’m honored to be one of three artists featured by Foundwork’s recent Guest Curator, Paula Ochi. Ochi wrote: “Heather Lee Birdsong’s paintings play with the idea of space in a surreal and narrative manner, blending folk tales, mythology, geometric abstraction and magical realism. I’m interested in how the geometric shapes she renders enter and exit seemingly varied picture planes. Paired with her unique use of color, these shapes collide and coalesce with strange landscapes in ways that suggest an underlying story.”

Ochi is the owner and director of Ochi Projects, Los Angeles (@ochiprojectsla) and Ochi Gallery, Sun Valley (@ochigallery). See other features at bit.ly/fw-Ochi

Image: A Wary Approach, 2019, gouache on paper, 10 x 10 in.

@foundwork.art #foundworkguestcurators #ochiprpjects #heatherleebirdsong #mediatedcommunication #contemporaryart
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByQcuxVBXsR/?igshid=cm4tmsrmnok