Ella Fitzgerald "Lullaby of Birdland" - Morse-Code Mosaic

"Lullaby of Birdland" is created from a Herman Leonard photo of Ella Fitzgerald in Paris from 1930.  Lullaby of Birdland is her "scat heavy" version of the song, released in 1954.  This mosaic piece is made from 100% Zero-Waste wood using Peruvian Walnut, African Edinam, American Cherry, Beech and Hard Maple species that are remnants from the milling of wood used to create frame molding (I have created hundreds of Zero-Waste wood frames).  Wood species were selected specifically to create natural hue and value shifts in defining her portrait. 

This piece made up of roughly 600 individual pieces that were clear coated to enhance the beauty of the various wood species - each piece was first cut, sanded, and assembled by hand, then mounted in a custom, solid American Beech, shadowbox frame.

I call it a "Morse-Code Mosaic" because rather than being made up from "dots", this piece is created with dots and dashes (of wood).

Framed size is 21.5" x 21.5" x 2"