Foreword: It’s hard to argue that the birds don’t have it right. It seems to me that they enjoy their existence and find it worthwhile. They are not vying for immortality, nor are they dreaming of some cloying crackpot utopia. My observations suggest that they find great value in nest building, foraging, and play; a healthy and simplistic lifestyle.
My drawings are a direct extension of my participation of the outdoors. They are records of personal observations curbed by curiosity and imagination. Running over 5,400 miles a year by way of foot into some of the country’s most erogenous and wildest wooded and urban areas allow for a full examination of nature. It sharpens the mind, invigorates the body, and intensifies the emotions. Is there any better reason to do anything?
As a result my graphite drawings are a sophisticated menagerie of North American birds I’ve encountered on my daily forays. My interpretations are a confluence between figurative realism and subjective romanticism, perhaps extending the exotic scientific drawings and interpretations of the early 19th Century explorers.
In essence-- my work is not meant to agitate or preach, but rather to find the meaning and joy in the things that are simple and true.

-Wynn Davis