Living in the western North Carolina mountains, I am surrounded by trees. On our property, I have developed an affinity bordering on a personal relationship with individual trees. I feel held and contained by them. In reading and viewing The Intelligent Life of Trees, I learned about the interconnectedness and relationship among trees that validated my intuitive experience living with them. I am honored to share their presence on planet earth. As an abstract painter, I have become fascinated with the rhythm of trees.

I am blessed to spend half my year in the natural beauty of the western North Carolina mountains. I have enjoyed playing with abstract landscapes that have a sense of place without specifying place. They are psychological landscapes with often a surreal element.

While much of my work is autobiographical, the Rock and Bones series became explicit. Following a recent major spine surgery in which the successful outcome depended on my body’s production of bone around the site, I became overtly fascinated in my work with rock and bone formations that acquire surreal forms.

As an intuitive painter, extreme magnification of cellular structures offers much inspiration reminiscent of outerspace imagery. All of the paintings in the series Interconnected began with a drawing - sometimes, a rediscovered watercolor or etching monoprint from my files, but usually a drawing from my sketchbook. Each were mounted on the panel and influenced the work as it progressed. In preliminary pieces I found myself making marks of repeating shapes. I looked at them and puzzled as they seemed so familiar. The word dendrite came to mind. In fact, they were much simpler cellular shapes, but in researching dendrites I was struck by their universality as nerve cells most frequently found in the brain, occurring in all animals. That universal occurrence made me reflect on the interconnectedness of all living creatures. There’s a play between connections and connective tissue - the inner and the outer. This reflection sustained me throughout the series. I became more intentional about cellular source material for my drawings. Some of the pieces stay with micro imagery such as suspended bubbles suggesting the space that surrounds individual molecules. Others expand to the macro focusing on the construction aspect of cells into forms. Of course, the alchemy of color, texture and line determined its evolution..

The Figure Narrative works are largely social commentary and part of my Compassion series. The Compassion Series began in response to the 2016 presidential campaign and its lack of compassion. Like most people, I was shocked by the adversarial black and white verbiage intentionally clashing different racial/ethnic and cultural segments of our American community in judgmental language. In words not unique to me, I found myself thinking: “Why can’t we all just get along?” I believe the narcissistic preoccupation with surface beauty driven by commercialism has left our culture vulnerable to this pejorative clash of “us” versus “them,” and so, I chose fashion illustrations to represent these narcissistic values. In utilizing lotuses as universal images of compassion and peace, I combined these two elements of lotus and fashion toward a hope of cultural healing.

oil and cold wax on cradled panels

2@24x30. framed 2@25x31

oil on linen

2022, 24x18, 26x20 fr

oil and cold wax on birch panel

2022, 20x16, 22x18 fr

oil on linen

2022, 18x24, 20x26 fr

oil on birch panel

2022, 24x30

oil and cold wax on cradled panel

18x24, framed 19x25

oil and cold wax on linen

20x16 fr 22x18

oil on linen

20x16 fr 22x18

oil on linen

18x24 fr 20x26

oil on linen

18x24 fr 20x26

oil and cold wax on cradled panel

18x24, framed 19x25

oil and cold wax on cradled panel

24x30, framed 26x32

oil and cold wax on cradled panel

24x30, framed 25x31

oil and cold wax on cradled panels

30x48, framed 31x50

oil on linen

2022, 18x24, 20x26 fr

oil on birch panel

2022, 24x30

oil and cold wax mixed media on cradled panels

2@ 24 x 18, framed 2@ 26x20

oil and cold wax on cradled panels

2@ 24 x 18, framed 2@26 x 20

oil on linen

2022, 18x24, 20x26 fr

oil and cold wax on birch panel

16x20 fr 18x22

oil and cold wax on linen

20x16 fr 22x18

oil on linen

24x30 fr 26x32

oil on canvas

20x16 fr 22x18

oil and cold wax mixed media, 16x20, framed 18x22

oil and cold wax on cradled panel

24x30, framed 26x32

oil and cold wax on cradled panel

16x20, framed 18x22

oil and cold wax on cradled panel

24x30, framed 26x32

oil and cold wax on cradled panel

24x36, framed 26x38

oil and cold wax on cradled panel

24x30, framed 26x32

oil and cold wax on cradled wood panel

24x30, framed 26x32

oil and cold wax on cradled panel

24x30, framed 26x32

oil and cold wax on cradled panel

24x30, framed 26x32

oil on canvas

16x20 fr 18x22

oil on linen

18x24 fr 20x26

oil and cold wax mixed media on cradled panel, 36x24, framed 38x26

oil and cold wax mixed media, 16x20, framed 18x22

Won 1st place in Encaustic Art Institute New Beginnings, Santa Fe, NM

oil and cold wax mixed media on cradled panel, 16x20, framed 18x22

oil/ pastel/ cold wax on cradled panel, 30x24, framed 32x26

oil and cold wax mixed media, 20x24, framed 22x26

oil and cold wax mixed media on cradled panel, 20x24, framed 22x26

oil and cold wax mixed media on cradled panels, 24x50, framed 26x54

oil and cold wax mixed media on cradled panel, 24x30, framed 26x32

oil and cold wax mixed media on cradled panel

24x30, framed 26x32

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil/ pastel/ watercolor on cradled panel, 40x30, framed 42x32

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil/ ink on cradled panel, 24x48, framed 26x50

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil on cradled panel, 48x24, framed 50x26

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil/ collaged monoprint on cradled panel, 30x40, framed 32x42

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil on cradled panel, 60x30, framed 62x32

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil on cradled panel, 40x30, framed 42x32

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil on cradled panel, 48x24, framed 50x26

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil on cradled panel, 48x24, framed 50x26

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil/ pastel/ collaged etching and monoprint on cradled panel, 36x12, framed 38x14

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil on cradled panel, 36x12, framed 38x14

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil/ graphite on cradled panel, 36x12, framed 38x14

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil on cradled panel, 36x12, framed 38x14

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil on cradled panel, 36x24, framed 38x26

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil/ collaged watercolor on cradled panel, 24x48, framed 26x50

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil on cradled panel, 48x24, frames 50x26

encaustic/ oil/ cold wax mixed media on cradled panels, 46x81

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil on cradled panels, 44x84

Can be viewed on Season 1 of “The Resident” on FOX

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil on cradled panels, 48x72, framed 50x78

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil/ collaged drawing on cradled panels of varied depth, 36x36

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil on cradled panel, 28x44

encaustic/ cold wax/ oil on cradled panels, 25x36

encaustic/ oil/ cold wax mixed media on cradled panels, 44x60, framed 46x66

encaustic/ oil/ cold wax mixed media on cradled panel, 40x30, framed 42x32

encaustic/ oil/ cold wax mixed media, 40x30, framed 42x32

encaustic/ oil/ cold wax mixed media, 40x30, framed 42x32

encaustic/ oil/ cold wax mixed media, 30x24, framed 32x26