Aubergine

Fresh from the garden

tilled with love, tended with care,

you found me there...

growing among the tendrils of tomato vines,

my deep violet tones

balanced the musky, husky greens

and umbers of late summer.

6"x6"

oil on board

$125

Adoring Friends

The pomegranate and the gourd

whisper in conspiratorial tones,

sharing secrets and quiet confidences,

as the cerulean blue of twilight 

gently blankets the scene.

6"x6"

oil on board

$125

Purple Pika

The hare, attentive and alert,

displayed in gold and aubergine,

casting shadows of indigo blue,

evokes serenity and well being.

6"x6"

oil on board

SOLD

unknown poem

How much of the journey do we control

and how much controls us?

Are we the weavers of our own web

or are we woven into the quilt of the

Reality we live in?

Poetry by Rumi

(no art today ... just a lovely poem)

Out beyond ideas of 

wrong doing and right doing,

There is a field,

I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down

in that grass,

the world is too full

to talk about.

Ideas, language, even

the phrase 'each other'

doesn't make sense

Grasping

Inspired by a Michelangelo sculpture, this painting expresses the earnestness of the soul as it reaches towards the light of the Divine. In my view, grapes represent abundance...and so life's cup overflows. The hand portrays contrasting gentleness and strength. I feel hands are expressive of one's emotions. 

Watercolor

13x20

$600

(please contact me if you are interested in purchasing this painting. 509.308.0666)

Marshland Hunter

The small village of Benton City runs parallel to the Yakima river's banks. This arid and often dry climate, is made lush and vibrant by the nourishment of the river. In the autumn it is a joy to drive along DeMoss Road and observe the abundance of fowl nesting and thriving. One day I observed large birds in the trees preening. And then there was this egret, standing in the marshes by a natural spring. Undoubtedly she was searching for the evening's meal. The area was alive with the colors of autumn.

Oil on Canvas

18x18 

$810

Life's Golden Dance

Our lives are full of golden moments - joys shared with those we love, magical words between friends, and smiles between strangers. It becomes a dance or interplay between souls—moving in harmony, dipping together, spinning about. These bobbing heads tell such a story. The center one looking forward, beckons you to join in. Do you hear the melody?

Oil on canvas

8x24

Available for sale: $575

Ladies of Summer

The ladies of Summer move to quiet rhythms. Their petals jostle about like fluffy petticoats on voluptuous women. Dancing uninhibited and partnered with golden skylight, they move to the syncopated beat the wind provides. Can you feel the movement?

Oil on canvas

8x24

Available for sale: $575

Duality

Sun above, sun below...glimmer of sky peeking through. These petal shaped rays of vibrant gold and orange surround and support the center. The spiraling movements mirror a souls journey through life—reaching, touching, connecting, seeking.

Oil on canvas

5x15

SOLD

Light Bearers

This painting started as a companion piece to the previous posting "Windows of the Soul". Sunflowers lived in my studio for a while - in their normal spot on the still life table...their heads turned from me in such a coy and aloof manner. Below them a bright head screamed for attention. Look at me! She was hiding just beneath the other's sage toned leaf. The entire image was stylized a bit, emphasizing a much happier feeling than the last painting. And the white dove was added upon the suggestion of my student. The entire painting reveals such strong feelings of peace and joy. Does the dominant flower remind you of the Statue of Liberty's torch held upright—imprisioned lightning? 

"Give me your tired, your poor,

your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

(Emma Lazarus 1849-1887)

oil on canvas

24 x 36

Available for Sale $1,700

Windows of the Soul

Petals dance about. They sway to a quiet symphony as heads nod and leaves whisper gentle reminders to each other. "Remember what it was like when we were young, the games we played in cool grasses as the shadows grew long? When family gathered around the table--the day's stories complete and supper's nourishment absorbed." Family memories are as long as the roads to return there and as deep as the pool of my soul. They guide me through the days now, their soft voices mumble--catching me unawares. It's as though I paint from the places of my past - I'm sitting in the back yard with palette held in young fingers, paint sloshed about, images created. And so the evolution of this flower seems to encompass this passage of time and the various stages of life. The large flower, strong-young-energetic reaches toward the sun. It caresses and protects the other two which are still quite lovely, but losing their vibrancy...allowing space for the wilting flowers to dip gracefully to the soil. They look sad, but life is sometimes sad. It's the opposition in all things that makes us appreciate the good. And dying is a part of living, right?

Perhaps these images evoke something different in you. I would welcome your stories.

Oil on canvas

24 x36 

$1,700 (framed)

Soaring Crane

Here is another hand painting in another format. This one represents the healing power in us all. My image honors the Soaring Crane method of Qigong--a mind-body practice and a self-initiated moving meditation. Here the hand becomes the bird. A drawing together, and development of healing.

Mixed Media on Claybord

4x4

SOLD

Harmony Series: Peace, Joy, Love

Early in the year I painted a 3 part series devoted to my love of stained glass and my artist friends who so lovingly create them. One of my friends would privately recite a "love mantra" to herself as she placed each piece into the growing image. What a wonderful skill - to take things that are whole, break them into small pieces, and then place them back together--creating an entirely new image and work of art. Once broken--now whole. 

These 3 small paintings (each measuring 4x4) are first scratched using a sharp tool, then painted and gloss varnished. In a black frame they are unified, mounted on an eggplant colored mat, each surrounded by a black fillet. As paintings, do they call to mind the luminescence of glass?

4x4 claybord (3 panels framed together)

Original SOLD

Prints available