Parts of Art

 Patterns is part of my "Of the Woods" miniseries. I combine paint, papers, ink, wax resist, linocut printing, fabric, colored pencils and canvas.  My aim is to combine these various materials to express life in its untamed tangle of exuberant growth. I want to offer a place of solace where, like the tallest trees, one can reach up to the heavens. Patterns is mounted on illustration board; the final size is 8” x 10”. This piece and many more will be available  at the Broad Ripple Art Fair,  May 14th and 15th in Indianapolis, IN

                                               Here's the latest art on the easel "Of the Woods  mini- series" and by mini series I mean 8 x 10"each.       I combine paint, papers, ink, wax resist, linocut printing, fabric, colored pencils and canvas. My aim is to combine these various materials to express life in its untamed tangle of exuberant growth. I want to offer a visual place of solace where,  like the tallest  trees,  one can reach up  to the heavens. These pieces and more are  in my shop here

   When my husband and I visited Bavaria a few years ago, I was delighted to discover a patch of fragrant, blossoming bushes that were alive with butterflies. I so wanted to plant whatever that white showy bush was  in my garden, but figured it is something only native to Germany. I took pictures of it and did an illustration in my illustrated travel journal.  The next year I visited my local plant nursery and was helped by a very knowledgeable gardener who was showing me around the nursery and painting a picture of how all the new plants would look in my garden. I pulled out my phone, showed him the picture from Germany and said, "Do you know what this is?"  "Of course!" he said immediately, "That's a butterfly bush, and we have them right over here." So much for me thinking it was a Bavaria only bush! So now I am the proud owner and illustrator of my own very prolific and alive with butterflies bush! To see the collection of butterfly paintings visit...

    I wrote a few months ago about my series of mixed media collages entitled "Of the Woods".  I was originally inspired to do this series in 2015, when I began going out to the woods to paint, draw, think and pray. Of that time period, I wrote the following, which is almost prophetic as I read it now.  “I am personally drawn to the place like a hungry person is to a good meal. It feeds my soul to spend time out here. I have already formulated a plan for a body of work. Not jewelry, but mixed media woodland paintings. Being in the woods is reminiscent of childhood, where I spent hours in the woods next door and across the street. In my imagination I lived out there. That is, after all, where I would go as a child to talk to God. So once again I have come full circle to the cabin in the woods.”      By 2018 I had developed several paintings that were, by their very nature, "of the woods". The colors and textures were very muted and neutral, just like t...

 So I’m back in the woods, and here’s what I mean by that:       It all started when we moved back to Indiana from Florida eight years ago. We moved here to help my in-laws in their last season of life. It was a decision that had been bathed in prayer and much discussion over a long period of time. Finally, the timing became clear and right. So we moved here, to my husbands boyhood home in rural Indiana, in late summer, 2013. Not because it was convenient (it wasn’t) but because there was a need and we were the best choice to fill the need.        It took awhile but we adjusted to our new home and new responsibilities. David’s dad’s health was declining rapidly by the time we moved here, but he was gracious and thankful to the end, and I am so glad to have had the time with him that we had.       Once he passed, life and routine changed, especially in regards to my mother in law. David became increasingly wrapped up in her care...

       Shenanigans  | SHəˈnanəgənz |  pl. noun  informal  secret or dishonest activity or maneuvering :  “ widespread financial shenanigans had ruined the fortunes of many .” •  silly or high-spirited behavior;  mischief . ORIGIN  mid 19th cent. : of unknown  origin .         There will come a time when said shenanigans are over and our lives  will return to some version of normal. So what, until then, do we do?           This past year and a half, as you may already know, I have been immersed in a body of work called “Of the Woods ”. It has been quite an exercise of patient endurance for me, to come up with a series of new pieces and get them completed, photographed, and professionally framed. It’s been like planting seeds in ground that would produce fruit eventually, but its artwork instead of food. And because I had made the decision to give it a year and...

        This week I got some unfortunate news about a show I was so excited about and honored to have been invited to. The show promoters had to made the difficult decision to postpone the show from May to August 1 & 2. Now they want to know if we, the artists, want to still participate on the new date or get our booth fee refunded.               At first I thought, of course I’ll still participate! After all,  it took me so many unsuccessful attempts to get into that show, and by now I have produced and framed many art pieces. It was clearly an answered prayer for me to get in that show!       Then I looked at the calendar and realized that anot her show is on that same weekend.  Will it be this or will it be that?      It’s a show I did last year; a really good one for me. Dang it. I’d hate to miss out on that show! The other factor I have to consider is t...

     This is a re-post of an article from 2015, which I wrote during my Florida show circuit. Since then my home, my city, my color palette and the subject matter of my art has changed, but the concept remains.    What is it that makes art happen? Does it happen because the preliminary sketch has every painstaking detail? Or does it just flow out of the fingertips of the artist? Or is it somewhere in between? Serendipity: noun.  1. An aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.  2. Good fortune; luck. Plan: noun. 1. a scheme or method of acting, doing, proceeding making, etc, developed in advance: battle plans. Like I always say, there is a balance in there somewhere.         Once I was at an art show which was not very well attended and I had time on my hands. I was showing mixed media collage. It was a beautiful venue in Florida and the weather was spectacular. I don't know where the customers were, but...

      I am super excited to announce that the Broad Ripple Art Fair decided to take me off the wait list and add me to the invited list! All that work and preparation, putting my booth up outside on the coldest day of the year so we could take a photo of it- it was all worth it after all, because I got in! I’m totally doing the happy dance. I have applied to that show four times in the last six years, and up to now have not been able to get my foot in the door.        It might have to do with the fact that I am now jurying in with mixed media instead of jewelry. It’s just as competitive, but there are fewer entrants in the category of mixed media, thus increasing my chances for getting in. Not that I believe in chance, but the percentages were more in my favor. Anyway, I got in, and I am so jazzed!         This is the time of year for artists like me who participate in juried art shows to apply. Check out my show schedu...