A New York State award-winning artist, Elizabeth ("Tilly") Strauss quilts paintings. She sews together the scraps of images, working with pieces of painted, homemade or "found" paper, small pencil sketches, bits of lists and bright embroidery thread. As she explains it, "working in patches fits with my life." Many of Tilly's mixed media art has images of farm animals like chickens and roosters. Tilly Strauss’ whimsical works both hide and reveal. Her subjects contrast domestic quietude with restless escapism. She lives on her grandfather’s farm and raises chickens, sons and other animals with her husband.