Life in Colorado

My Son’s Last Baseball Game

Every spring, a blog post I wrote ten years ago gets visited over and over, bringing back so many memories. My heart goes out to other parents out there trying to process the joy, the grief, the transition. I re-publish the post today in honor of my beloved son. Ten years after his last baseball…Read more My Son’s Last Baseball Game

Refuge

Refuge; 19.75" x 11.5"; watercolor, ink, acrylic, water-soluble pastel. Another morning. Another heartbreaking headline. Mass shootings, earthquakes, climate change, disease. I wonder, Where can I go to escape this darkness? Even in the highest mountain refuge, the darkness is still there. In me. I think of Jesus’ words in Luke 21:25-28 “There will be signs…Read more Refuge

Evening Song

Evening Song; 2021; 15.5" x 25.5"; watercolor, acrylic, pastel, chalk, graphite, ink. John 1:5, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome." There was a time not too long ago when the darkness hovered near. Chaotic world events and challenges all around leached me dry. I snuck away to a monastery for…Read more Evening Song

When A Thistle Matters

Lavender probes a rim of midnight blue, the tender touch of land and sky as daylight yields to night. I am ragged, like the thistle’s fringe, so insignificant in this vastness, yet reaching for the sinking sun. And the hem of a robe sweeps low, setting the sky on fire. Setting me on fire. Like…Read more When A Thistle Matters

Timeless

Wandering in a Winter Forest; 2021; 7.5" x 13'; mixed media: ink, watercolor, gouache, oil pastel, graphite. Grasses arc ochre, under frozen sheen, sparkling like the laughter of my grandma, bowing at her feet. I see her there, at a picnic table, her wisdom words still embedded in black, trusting limbs, still reaching under the…Read more Timeless

ShoutOut Colorado Interview

Please visit the wonderful online publication, ShoutOut Colorado, featuring the people of my home state, Colorado! This interview was originally published in ShoutOut Colorado, December 22, 2020. Hi Colleen, how does your business help the community?We are not alone. I keep stumbling on this theme wherever I go in the world (and strangely, especially among…Read more ShoutOut Colorado Interview

Peace For A Weary Heart

I wonder if your heart is as weary as mine? I picture our hearts like silos. Collective stress induced by a global pandemic, natural disasters, and economic hardship fill the storage column. And then, over that basic elevated societal level, personal challenges sift. Layers, filling to the top, spilling over. In the past few monthsl,…Read more Peace For A Weary Heart