The paintings in A Gilded Cup are based in the form of nests that the songbirds I grew up watching and listening to in rural Central Wisconsin created. These birds are primarily from the family Passeriformes and all create most beautiful nests, ornately wrought from whatever they found into almost impossibly strong and safe homes. Through the use of line I am attempting to create this same sense of home in these paintings, where each line is a piece which I have found and placed into position to create these “nests” in order to lead the viewer to a stable, soft, beautiful home. I hope they are a reminder that every one movement you make and have made is a piece of the life and home you have created one piece at a time.