Vivienne Strauss has been a full-time artist since 2008. While she is not formally trained as an artist, she has a background in philosophy and is an avid reader, cinephile, and nature lover. All of this has profoundly influenced her playful, sometimes quirky works rendered in oils, watercolors, paper, glue, fabric and photography and just about anything she can repurpose. She currently resides in Kentucky with her artist husband, Matte Stephens.

For our November Sketchbook, Strauss takes us on a retro-fabulous bird migration. As in all modern travel, there are rules and regulations. In this case, each flock of birds is allowed one item of luggage to be stored in the backseat (or strapped to the roof) of a vintage car classified as “bitchin” or better. To honor Zócalo’s Los Angeles home base, all birds she features are either native to California or spend a significant amount of time here on their migration. See if you can identify the blue-gray gnatcatcher, the western tanager, the black-bellied plover, the streak-backed oriole, and the Bohemian waxwing.