Love’s Locked But Not Lost is inspired by one of those many bridges where people write their names on padlocks, lock them to the bridge, and throw the key in the river. A sweet, romantic, charming gesture, for sure. Not always good for the bridge, but lovely for the young couples’ hearts. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_lock I was intrigued […]
“Sweet Marie” is one more piece that I made for the Threads of the Past exhibit. The little girl in “Sweet Marie” came from an old scrapbook from the 1880s. Something in her pose and expression remind me of my grandmother, so I have named this piece after her. My grandmother wasn’t born till the 1900s, […]
For our “Threads of the Past” show, I made several pieces of artwork, including this one, inspired by family. My mom loved to quilt, and made many during her lifetime. This Tree Of Life quilt was one of her first. She made it in 1990 and it’s one I have always loved. I used it as […]
“Spring Summer Autumn Winter” is a 4-part collage (quadriptych) that shows the same tree scene as imagined across the four seasons. The trees were inspired by a recent boating trip along the Canal du Midi in France. Here’s a photo that I took during the trip and used for inspiration: I found the shapes of […]
This piece was inspired by the forests in Oregon, where the trees are impossibly tall and seem go on forever. I was struck by how hard it was to see the individual trees because there were so many. They seemed to be defined by the space around them rather than by themselves. I wanted to […]
“Walk In The Woods” continues my exploration with a collage process that is more free and intuitive. No carefully analyzed plan, no agonizing over each piece. Instead, I tried to put pieces together because they “belonged” together. “Belonged” is in quotation marks because do vintage buttons, corrugated cardboard, and French knots really belong together? Who […]
“Waterfall” began, as so many of my abstract paintings do, with quick and instinctive swatches of paint on paper. Quick and energetic, applied in an intuitive, physical way. Love that stuff. After the paint was dry, I enhanced the paint with some machine stitching to draw attention to it and add texture, then added the […]
“Deep Blue Sea” is a bit different for me. Collage, the way I do it, is deliberate. I think about each piece before applying it to the artwork, weighing color, placement, size carefully. I’ll often look at a piece for several days before gluing anything down. It’s a very different process than painting, which for […]
“The Dunes” was an enjoyable collage to put together. Rather than raiding only my stash of papers and yarn, I took a walk outsisde and picked up plant materials (grasses, leaves, petals) that I included in the artwork. I need to do that more often; I love the look that the natural elements bring to […]
“New Orleans” is a collage inspired by a vacation to that city in 2014. Walking through the French Quarter, I ran across a wonderful building with a colorful first level contrasted against rough upper levels contrasted against bright blue shutters. In the sunlight, the effect was stunning. Later, walking along the river, I was taken […]