The Magpie paintings are inspired by the beauty and mythology of a bird often misjudged in most Western cultures. From their blue turquoise tinged plumage and the romantic notion that they mate for life, the rhyme of interpreting different numbers of magpies seen together, their purported love of shiny objects, sometimes labelled thieves and flying rats, to their symbolism in Far Eastern cultures of intelligence, luck, happiness and good news: whether they are hated or revered by people has more to do with nurture over nature. Something that resonates throughout life.