Adrift on a Painted Sea

By Tim Bird & Sue Bird. Published by Avery Hill Publishing. 

Softcover, 84 pages, Colour, 2024. 

Paperback with french flaps, 84 pages, full colour

A poignant, thoughtful graphic memoir that explores family, loss, and art through the author's relationship with his mother, who painted as a hobby throughout her life.

Sue Bird was always painting: botanical art, landscapes, still lifes, and especially the sea. She took classes, kept countless sketchbooks, and filled the house with art. From their neighbourhood to their family trips, all the moments of her life were memorialized in her artwork. Throughout her life, she never sold a piece -- she gave art to family and friends, and shared her work online, but never received wider recognition for her work. 

This graphic novel by her son, Tim Bird, explores their family life and her creative explorations through a mix of her paintings and Tim's comics, depicting their relationship and her life from teenagehood to her struggle with cancer at the height of the covid pandemic. After her death, this graphic novel at last showcases her work. 

At its heart a book about creativity and family relationships, Adrift on a Painted Sea tells a story about the things we overlook in the people closest to us.