I love this piece, inspired by a friend's painting of birds in the trees. Around here, the birds are voracious eaters and we have scores of them around the studio and yard, but every fall there is an increased number of them searching for extra nourishment before they take down south and I often spend hours watching them and learning from them. Birds for me are symbols for freedom and flight or ascension. The eleven birds represent balance in nature (1 and its paralell self = 11) and its biblical terms signifies purity. It is also my birthdate- 12/11. The white birds circle around the two trees of different colors of green (growth) and have escaped domestication or confinement by fleeing their cage. The watchful 12th bird, a bird of prey stands in the tallest branch-protecting. The white glossy dove on the back relates its message of peaceful existence.I believe there is another possible reading of the piece, though not as intentional, that it is a political commentary on the current Middle East conflict. The eleven white birds are swirling around the figure in the trees, who is the observer of their flight to freedom from the opened cage door. The eleven white birds have subtle impressions of arabic design. The two trees are entwined but distinctly two different colors of green and the birds have no interest in which tree they sit it or fly around. The inglaze decal of the bird of prey, symbolizing the U.S., watchfully guards the action, while the dove of peace is released from its cage on the back of the form.