My first encounter with pigeons, as with most people, was on the streets of a city; in this case Philadelphia.  At first I barely noticed them, they were pests.  But at some point I realized their individuality, their behavior and their existence was no less than any other organism that struggles to survive and live according to the internal rules of its world.

Eventually I was able to pick out certain individual birds by their location, their patterning and their behavior.  I was able to identify when a male was courting a female, when a bird was brooding on a nesting site, or was simply searching for a meal.

These paintings are less formal than the fancy pigeon portraits.  They are less posed, more brushy and suggestive.  They are painted on weathered panels, having been allowed to live on a roof for over a month.  They would not normally be accorded the same value as their fancy cousins, but I present them as creatures worthy of artistic consideration nonetheless.

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