Tree of Birds

Here is an illustration I did for a book by Louise Erdrich titled The Plague of Doves. Besides having actual doves in the story, it focused on a tragic racial incident that plagued the families of those involved for generations. The family tree metaphor worked perfectly here and the doves in the negative space was part lucky experiment and part divine inspiration.

See an excerpt from the book review below or go to this link for the full review.

{In the title chapter, set in 1896, innocent-looking doves descend on farmland, tragically destroying crops. At the same time, they perform their function as harbingers: Two teenagers, sent by the church to a field to shoo away the pesky birds, look into each other's eyes (“we seen into each udder's dept,” says the grandfather) and melt “into the wall of birds.”}