A collection of watercolor paintings created from 2020-2024. Each piece explores nature in the overlooked wild spaces that I consider beautiful in their own way and worthy of our attention.
Named not because of all the soft baby pinks, blues, and violets but as a reminder to leave your leaves. Let them cradle and protect hibernating insects, like bumblebee queens, the woolly bear caterpillars, as well as insect eggs and chrysalises, and other overwintering animals ~ the snails, worms, beetles, millipedes, mites, spiders that in turn are food for chipmunks, turtles, birds, and amphibians.
A pile of leaf litter can go a long way to support biodiversity and keep the natural order of living things, including us. Take a closer look. You might just find leaf litter as beautiful as I do. So much movement in the stillness.
This piece may be the beginning of a new series called Equinox (working title and a word I love). Both the spring and autumn equinoxes create a balanced day and night but for me, the equinoxes create an internal upheaval that affects me physically, physiologically, and spiritually making me feel off-balanced.
NOTE: This piece is available for purchase. Currently unframed.
“WE WILL KNOW WHEN WE GET THERE”
Part of the River Divination series that evolved from personal experience and in preparation for the Mississippi River Stories exhibit at the Mississippi River Watershed Management Organization in partnership with St. Thomas University and the Natural Heritage Project in 2022.
When I witnessed the river on a warm October day, I had the shores to myself. There wasn’t a trace of human activity except for the wet paw print left by a passing dog. The arrangments of organic objects become the divination “we will know when we get there.”
NOTE: Framed size: 28 x 28 inches. Available for Sale.
The first of the River Divination series that evolved from personal experience and in preparation for the Mississippi River Stories exhibit at the Mississippi River Watershed Management Organization in partnership with St. Thomas University and the Natural Heritage Project in 2022.
When I witnessed the river on a warm October day, the light from the maples and the river made everything feel otherworldly. There wasn’t a trace of human activity, except for a wet paw print from a passing dog and a rusty bolt from a boat long gone. The arrangments of organic objects become the divination “we have stories to tell.”
NOTE: Framed size: 36 x 30.5 inches. Available for sale.
I seem to be painting a lot of leaves these days. Plant leaves, tree leaves, dried and dead leaves. Leaves in a landscape, leaves up close.
From a scientific perspective, leaves are individual powerhouses, eating the sun, and absorbing carbon dioxide while releasing oxygen. Each leaf, no matter the species, (except succulents) has a network of veins and arteries that fuel plants and trees with glucose, the same simple sugar our brains run on.
From an average human perspective, leaves buffer our overabundance of man-made sounds, tree leaves protect us from the sun’s harmful rays. Most people will tell you a walk in a canopied forest has a calming effect.
From an artistic perspective, leaves hold an aesthetic that is balanced and transformative. I love seeing buds being pushed open by new golden leaves in spring. In autumn, I am drawn to their changing shapes and colors, a form of organic origami.
From an environmental perspective, I pay close attention to the background. So much of our ground is either paved in concrete or blacktop. Both contribute to climate change by covering vital soil that sequesters carbon, creating dirty water run-off from heavy rains, and absorbing the sun making everything hotter.
I dream of permeable paved roads so rainwater can be filtered before it lands in lakes and rivers. How lovely to walk in a neighborhood where instead of concrete sidewalks, there was a gentle footpath flanked by ribbons of wildflowers.
A change is coming.
NOTE: This piece is made using professional-grade watercolors and archival ink. Available for purchase. Currently unframed.
BLUE SPRUCE: On the side of our house live two tall blue spruce trees. Walking under them, they create a micro-ecosystem of their own. It’s cool under their shade on an otherwise hot day.
Between these two trees, I see this arrangement that found its way into a watercolor painting after many weeks of detailed attention.
This watercolor is about balance, equanimity, and climate justice — for all species. Walk into any pine forest, or mixed evergreen woods and you will immediately notice the temperature change.
It’s cool and moist as the trees like it. They created this environment that suits them and their cooperative neighborhoods, the mushrooms, ferns, lichen, and moss.
As the planet gets hotter and drier, evergreens will disappear from our landscape. All ecosystems will go through change. The change is coming too swiftly for us.
NOTE: Framed size 21 x 21 inches. Available for sale.
“MEADOW PINE PLAID WITH MUSHROOM BUTTONS”
You can tell a lot about your surroundings just by looking down — I discover entire universes this way. A little imagination and the random arrangements of pine needles could be seen as ancient roadways carved into the earth if seen from high above.
We know there are conifers here so it must be cool and moist the way conifers like it.
There are deciduous trees nearby, too. Is it late summer or early autumn?
The lush grasses under the needles suggest there is more shade than sun and that the soil is acidic, something that happens where conifers grow. There are no signs of wildflowers, another indication that the soil could be acidic.
It may have rained recently — and just warm enough for small wild button mushrooms to pop up.
All the while the trees are in conversation, discussing matters through a network of mycorrhiza below ground entwining with their roots.
Next time you’re outside, in nature, take a look around. What do you see, smell, touch, hear? What stories can you tell by looking down at what is before your feet?
“CRADLING”
“RIVER DIVINATION”
“A CHANGE IS COMING”
“IN SEARCH FOR SERENITY”
