Ivory came about as the result of a rather complex commission which required, among other things, detailed reference material of doves in flight. I was eventually able to track down a man who had a flock of white racing homing pigeons (close enough to doves) and spent an afternoon sitting in their flight path and snapping pictures as they circled his yard above the dovecote.

While I was able to capture some impressive poses, my pictures lacked the detail I needed, so I spent a good while studying the birds’ wings up close. These very docile creatures posed beautifully for me, and I was so taken by the micro view of their porcelain-like feathers that Ivory was born.

In this painting, I sought to capture the kind of delicacy I’d often admired in white marble statues, where chiseled solidity and ephemeral translucence combine in elegant balance. As I worked, the word “ivory” kept entering my head, and it eventually became not only the title of the painting, but incorporated into the image itself.