Exotica

Exotic:

of foreign origin or character; not native; introduced from abroad, but not fully naturalized or acclimatized:

exotic foods; exotic plants.

2.

strikingly unusual or strange in effect or appearance:

an exotic hairstyle.

3.

of a uniquely new or experimental nature:

exotic weapons.

4.

of, relating to, or involving stripteasing:

the exotic clubs where strippers are featured.

Here, Gentle Reader, I will explore with you my experience of that most useless catch-all of English adjectives: Exotic.  I first encountered the word when I was a child of ten.  I was home sick with the flu and resting in bed with a lovely pile of books by my side.  One was a beautifully illustrated picture book of wildlife of the world.  It was given me the previous Christmas by my paternal grandmother.  I couldn't put it down and it became my book for the year, especially the birds.  It was a little bit odd, however.  I believe the book was written and published in Great Britain so all the common birds illustrated seemed to me very unusual.  Almost none of them lived here in Canada.  They were strange to me, strangely beautiful. I didn't know at the time that I found them exotic.  Then I turned a few pages to the section titled "Exotic Birds." 

This was my first ever encounter with the word "Exotic."  Even to say it, to feel this word roll on my tongue felt, er, exotic.  Featured on the page were birds from other lands, tropical paradises lifted off of travel posters.  I remember the sulfur crested cockatoo and the cordon bleu finch.  I think there was also a scarlet macaw.  I can't remember the fourth bird.  I kept returning to this page, my young Canadian suburban eyes feasting on the beauty and delicious strangeness of these creatures.

When I was twenty, a friend referred to me as "exotic."  I think this is the only time I've  heard myself described with this word.  To this day I haven't a clue what he must have been talking about.  A couple of years later I really became interested in exotic birds.

I was twenty-one when I saw them in the display window of a pet store:



This is a painting I did of hyacinth macaws.  They are huge with long tails.  The first painting  I sold was a large canvas of hyacinth macaws.  To look at two of those elegant birds staring back at me through the window as though they wanted to talk to me and the intoxicating shimmer of their deep ultramarine plumage has always stayed with me.

A couple of years later, following a night shift in a parking lot where I worked for a few months I found myself in a neighbourhood branch library the following Saturday morning.  I was absolutely paralyzed with a quiet ecstatic dread as I stared at page after page of a lavishly illustrated book called Birds of the World.



This is one of my interpretations of the Fairy Bluebird of Southeast Asia.  I first saw this bird in one of the pages of that book.

Here is one of my interpretations of the Resplendent Quetzal of Central America:



The first time I saw one of these birds was on the page of the Bird article of the World Book Encyclopedia, 1966, which my parents bought when I was a kid.

Through my twenties and thirties, and into my thirties, forties and fifties, I bought, acquired and collected bird books, birds of the world, "exotic birds" that no one had ever heard of, hummingbirds, peacocks, pheasants, parrots, birds of paradise and others, many others.  I have long been addicted to the exotic and here are a few more images of my art to prove it:









As far as images of my art go, Gentle Reader, this is all that I'll bore you with.  Everything is available should you want to own any of these paintings.  Prices negotiable and all sales are final.

That said, another thought about "Exotic".  It all depends on where you live.  The British birds in that special book from my Grandmother looked very strange, lovely and special to me because I had never seen them before.  For me they were exotic.  Some of our most beautiful birds here in my own neighbourhood are seldom seen or noticed by others unless, like me, they happen to be bird geeks.  This makes them exotic. 

A friend recently told me that because of my blue eyes and blonde (gray, actually) hair along with my fluent Spanish, many of my Latin American friends must find me exotic.

Has everyone stopped laughing yet?

And on it goes.

And finally, my interest in the exotic has made exotic things, especially birds, seem kind of ordinary and every day, though I still love and celebrate them.  The familiar and everyday in my own back yard have since become a little more interesting, beautiful and mysterious.  It's all exotic.  But of course, Gentle Reader, what else could it ever be!