Good Medicine: Erikas Chesonis
Becoming a bird lover is not something I saw coming. Bird watching was and is my parent’s hobby and being the defiant eye roller that I was as a kid, their mention was met with my annoyance and subsequent vanishing act. I was a toot. There really is no other explanation.
But seemingly out of nowhere, my displeasure dormant and overall awareness of their existence all but absent, something changed. Most likely it’s because of my daughter. Your eyes work a different way when you have a kid. Proximity to curiosity sparks interest.
We have bird books now and frequently talk about what we see at the bird feeder or on hikes. And I also like to draw them. Aside from doodling my own birds, I love when I encounter a fellow birder in the wild, especially when they’re producing such beautiful specimens. Enter Erikas Chesonis (or Erik), an Austin illustrator and designer. If you look at his body of work, his work will impress you, with swaths of bright colors and references to both nature and pop culture. But it’s his Posca paintings on chip boards that put the hearts in my eyes. In part, because wow, how do you do that?? There’s always that immediate, oh I want to try that now (knowing full well I will have just accrued more art supplies that go in the best intentions pile). More than that is the beauty, doing so much with so little.
It looks like he was doing commissions for a while, with proceeds going to The American Bird Conservancy. I missed the boat, but I’m keeping my eyes peeled that he’ll be open to doing more later.
