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 What drew you to the stamp project, and are you a birder?

I’m not a birder, although I have a feeder outside and I’m constantly looking at it. I was thrilled when USPS offered me the project. I hadn’t done a stamp for them for maybe a year or two, so it was nice to sort of re-emerge, and I was happy because of the size of the project. I’ve always been a nature lover, since I was a kid. I particularly like depicting animals in their environment, and I just really get into the whole personality of those animals or whatever habitat I’m featuring. I’ve done a lot of jungle habitats, but there’s not a boundary. I try to encompass everything.

How did you choose which songbirds to include?

It’s based on what I find attractive and interesting in a bird. The first thing that comes to my mind is coloration and plumage. Take the painted bunting. I had never seen one in person, though I’d seen pictures of it. As far as coloration it’s hard to beat. It’s got just about every color in the spectrum: red, green, blue, yellow. It’s a very beautiful bird. And some birds are interesting because of their behavior. Nuthatches can actually walk on a branch upside down; they can go up and down trees upside down. I find that intriguing, and for purposes of design it makes the nuthatch different than a bird that just perches.

What’s your process for creating each stamp?

The stamps start as sketches, executed mostly on canvas board. I do research to make sure that if I include vegetation for the birds to perch on, it’s a sensible choice. The sketch stages are more what you’d call drawings. I do them fairly tight so once I color it in, it looks pretty close to what the finished product will be, but it’s a different medium because it’s done mostly in pen or pencil and then followed with color from magic marker-like pens. By the time I present it for the committee to make a decision on what they like and what they don’t, it looks pretty comprehensive.

What’s your favorite stamp from the series?

I like the meadowlark the best. I situated the bird on a morning glory growing wild on a stump, and he’s perched on that, his beak open in a typical meadowlark way. The birds kind of arch their head back and aim for the sky. Design-wise, and because of the behavior of the bird, I think that’s my favorite from the group.

You’ve done a variety of illustration work for clients ranging from ExxonMobil to TIME. How are stamps different?

If I’m doing a piece of artwork for a publication like TIME magazine, or an advertising account, there’s a different purpose and there’s usually a different format. They require larger paintings, more detail, and different proportions if it’s a magazine spread. With stamps, to try and get a very eye-catching, graphically-pleasing subject in such a small space is a great challenge. I have seen stamps where there’s a whole scene, I always thought it’s too small a format to really do that. Doing very little does so much. My philosophy is you don’t have to put the whole world in this item; you just have to make it really noticeable and stand out.