Leslie Staub is a native of New Orleans and a largely self-taught painter. She is the author and illustrator of several children’s books including; Mama's Nightingale by Edwidge Danticat, Whoever You Are by Mem Fox and Bless This House that she wrote and illustrated. She has exhibited widely throughout the US and shown at LeMieux Galleries since 1994. The process of making these paintings of birds is very joyful, very quiet, very meditative. My hope is that some of the delight I had in making them comes through in the paintings themselves. While making them, I come to see them almost more as letters than paintings, so I’d like to address the paintings like this: To Whom It May Concern: I made this picture of a bird for you.