About
Cynthia

While attending Rhode Island School of Design, she diligently studied color
theory and animal anatomy at RISD's famous Nature Lab. Cynthia took side
trips to Harvard's Peabody Museum where literally thousands of preserved
animals are kept. Later at RISD, Cynthia traveled to Rome, Italy where she
studied Renaissance and early Dutch painters in detail as well as the old
masters¹ materials and techniques. The narrative aspect of their work
fascinated her.

At that time, Cynthia discovered a new obsession, which were parrots. She
eagerly devoured information and became acquainted with several bird
breeders in the area. Cynthia has spent almost 15 years raising and
studying parrots. She has written articles for bird related magazines such
as companion Parrot Quarterly and AFA Watchbird in addition to working with
many parrot conservation organizations such as WPT, RSCF and CPQ raising
money through donated paintings.

Cynthia and her husband, Rob, share their household with many species of
parrots and 4 dogs. There are plenty of models for her paintings at any
given time. She finds their intelligence, sensitivity and habits unendingly
fascinating. There is limited written information on birds' quirky
behaviors. Most that is known is handed down by word of mouth from
experienced birds owners and breeders. Only within the past 5 or so years
have scientists actually attempted to study parrots in the wild.

Cynthia imparts a narrative feel to the birds she paints. It not only
reveals the "characters" in a piece but also expresses a passage of time
with the still image. Specific narrative details infer a past, present and
future within the characters of the work. One has to be intimately familiar
with the subject in order to identify such tiny details. It is not
absolutely essential to be familiar with the subject however. The piece can
simply be enjoyed on its own technical merits.