The stick figure birds that fly through the center of the picture were inspired by my child's drawings. The sea, the sky were emerging in this painting, as is typical of much of my work. The sky - it's just whites and grays - but I read it as sky. The bird forms seemed to belong there and were added in as bit of last inspiration. The blues, whites and grays come from looking at the sea paintings of JMW Turner and my long fascination with his work.