I love Edward Hopper’s works. He was a master at capturing the beauty of stillness in the ordinary thus creating something extraordinary. I was feeling into the stillness, the quietude, in my own life when I painted the guest room in my home.

Aside from wanting to create a tranquil scene, the apple she is holding is very symbolic. I was recently in a 3 woman exhibition wherein we celebrated, Women’s History. The history (of women begins with the story of the Eve in the Garden of Eden. Say what you will about the Bible. We cannot deny the long term impact its’ stories have had on us ––whether you believe them or not.

I indulged a little further in the apple theme in regard to the history of women. They are so delicious when fresh, and crispy! Apples are hugely symbolic for me with an emotional mixture of frustration and compassion.

Ahhh the crooked tree! I have painted many a crooked tree over the years but this one was painted with Nora Bateson in mind. I had the opportunity to ask her how she would visualize her new word, symmathesy*, while on a zoom call with her. She paused a moment to consider then replied “a crooked tree".

*Her new word gives us an organic way looking at the whole of the process of inter-learning which prior to has been described more in terms of ‘parts and wholes’ which as she says “quickly slips into thinking in terms of arrangement and mechanistic function which gives rise to studying things, (even ideas?) in separate boxes. Nora’s word, Symmathesy, as a noun, means “an entity forming over time by contextual mutual learning through interaction" As a verb, Symmathesize means to generate mutual learning through the process of interaction between mutual variables in a living entity.

Both meanings open the doorway to new perspectives in our relationships not only to our environment but with ourselves and each other.

This was also painted for the Women’s History exhibition that I was featured in with two other artists, Marilyn Place and Kelly Saunders. The Master Piece Theatre series, Poldark inspired me to paint Demelza. I like the idea of exemplifying the female gender as relaxed and daydreaming rather than pushing in on the very popular notion of empowerment.

My closest companion for over seventeen years, is my dog, CJ. I am devoted to him. In this work I am still inspired by Edward Hopper’s work. I am very pleased with how this painting turned out. Yes, my dog only has one eye.

One cold winter in Maine I was staying inside a lot going through my scrap book of pictures from various sources that had struck my fancy over many years. I feel this particular painting speaks from a deep inner longing I have to simply be in the dirt, not separate from nature but growing out from it with the trees.

A hot summer evening on Moosehead Lake in Maine. This is where I went swimming every day from June through to the beginning of September for three glorious summers. Yes, it was that beautiful. When I am not wanting to be in the dirt I love being in the water. It is in the water where I feel the most freedom.

I lived off grid in a small two room stone cottage along a river, in North Queensland, Australia for five wondrous years. These beauties were growing in an abandon orchard very near my home. I made the momentous decision to leave my career in advertising in Santa Cruz, California, on the invitation of two dear friends who owned the property. I spent those years painting to my hearts content developing my own very stylized, naive way of painting.

I am realizing how many paintings seem to be chronicling my life’s story. After living in Australia for fifteen years I made another momentous decision to move back to my native home of the United States. I bought my little bungalow in Asheville, North Carolina and like all good Americans had to get to work. It would be quite some years before I could paint as much as I did when I lived in Australia.

This is also inspired by the works of Edward Hopper and depicts one of Asheville’s more iconic streets. You won’t find any big box stores on Wall Street just good ole Americana mom and pop stores and some pretty good restaurants too. ‘Early Girl’ is one of my favorites.

What can I say, I like white flowers, and I particularly like the way the background turned out in this work.

After falling, full weight, onto the corner of an old concrete step I lost the use of my right arm and hand for a good six months. I had just begun playing around with spilling my unused morning coffee onto good heavy weight arches paper. It was so much fun seeing how different the spill looked once it had dried. I would sit with the impression for some time until I was inspired to add, as little as possible, to enhance some definition. The titles of each piece are the only clues I will give because I want to viewer to be apart of the imaginings as well.

After falling, full weight, onto the corner of an old concrete step I lost the use of my right arm and hand for a good six months. I had just begun playing around with spilling my unused morning coffee onto good heavy weight arches paper. It was so much fun seeing how different the spill looked once it had dried. I would sit with the impression for some time until I was inspired to add, as little as possible, to enhance some definition. The titles of each piece are the only clues I will give because I want to viewer to be apart of the imaginings as well.

After falling, full weight, onto the corner of an old concrete step I lost the use of my right arm and hand for a good six months. I had just begun playing around with spilling my unused morning coffee onto good heavy weight arches paper. It was so much fun seeing how different the spill looked once it had dried. I would sit with the impression for some time until I was inspired to add, as little as possible, to enhance some definition. The titles of each piece are the only clues I will give because I want to viewer to be apart of the imaginings as well.

After falling, full weight, onto the corner of an old concrete step I lost the use of my right arm and hand for a good six months. I had just begun playing around with spilling my unused morning coffee onto good heavy weight arches paper. It was so much fun seeing how different the spill looked once it had dried. I would sit with the impression for some time until I was inspired to add, as little as possible, to enhance some definition. The titles of each piece are the only clues I will give because I want to viewer to be apart of the imaginings as well.

After falling, full weight, onto the corner of an old concrete step I lost the use of my right arm and hand for a good six months. I had just begun playing around with spilling my unused morning coffee onto good heavy weight arches paper. It was so much fun seeing how different the spill looked once it had dried. I would sit with the impression for some time until I was inspired to add, as little as possible, to enhance some definition. The titles of each piece are the only clues I will give because I want to viewer to be apart of the imaginings as well.