Finlay Flock

These birds weren’t my original idea. I saw someone making them on Facebook and thought they looked fun. I was looking for a creative outlet, and had just decided the felt animals I’d been trying were not the right path.

As an architect and a “creative person,” I am not always kind to myself. I thought about trying painting, but what do you paint? And would I be kind to myself about it? Probably not.

These birds have been a wonderful practice. First you make the bodies out of empty toilet paper rolls, then you draw out the patterns. I copied the original three from the Facebook post, but I’ve since opened my bird books and started creating my own.

The most fun part is mixing the colors. I’ve always loved color, and I love helping clients pick what goes on their walls, but I hadn’t mixed paint since Jan Davis’s AP art class in high school (or maybe early college). Once the colors are on, out come the markers for the details, which is also very fun.

The other fun part: my neighbors, my office and my mother are all saving empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls for me. It has become a whole neighborhood project.

I named them the Finlay Flock because Finlay is my maiden name. My dad, Duncan, who passed away in 2025, loved birds, and he passed his love of photography on to me. He was a physician, but he had a creative gene; both my parents did. In his later years he tried carving birds. He had a diligence he didn’t pass on to me, but luckily my natural talent keeps me doing interesting things. He would love the Finlay Flock. I miss him.

Photographing the flocks, I’ve had to watch myself. I see the early birds, or the Elmer’s glue bumps, and I have to practice just letting them be. And honestly, I love them, in a big crowd and in small groups. Somehow they embody JOY! They’ve renewed my creative spirit.