art process

Space and Creativity

Together we romp through a stream, climb sunflower hills, and criss-cross wildflower fields. The beauty of the place feeds my soul, even as my "creatures'" happiness and freedom lifts my spirits. Here, ideas incubate far below conscious thought. There must be space for creativity to flourish. Here, these accomplishing-nothing-hours are worth more than a million of production.…Read more Space and Creativity

Elijah’s Ravens

Elijah's Ravens is one of those paintings that flows from a place of deep sorrow and unyielding hope, one of those creative processes expressing inaccessible-by-words movements of the spirit. The closest I can come to verbalization of what this painting means is to borrow words from a powerful little book I've been reading lately, Reversed Thunder, by one…Read more Elijah’s Ravens

Dreaming of Gardens

Amani ya Juu (Swahili for "peace from above"):  an enchanted garden engulfing my senses in tangible peace, healing my soul. Birds sing as vibrant green dance with breezes; and hope sprouts as surely as beautiful textiles leap from skillful hands. Amana Ya Juu, neslted in a Nairobi side street, waited for me like the tender presence…Read more Dreaming of Gardens

Studio Update

I recently entered the Colorado Springs Art Guild Spring Show, Impressions, and I'm thrilled that one of my pieces won 2nd place. It's an older piece that increases exponentially in meaning for me as I near the "launching" of my oldest child, who graduates from high school next month. My heart pleads and trusts daily for his…Read more Studio Update

Art Process – mixing media

I learned to paint in my teenage years using watercolor. I invested income from summer jobs into private lessons with a local artist, renowned watercolorist Claudette Beddingfield. I fell in love with watercolor’s fluidity, spontaneity, and transparency. In college I discovered the power of line as it whispers and shouts, hints and exclaims. Combining watercolor with graphite and…Read more Art Process – mixing media

Art As Sacred Exchange

In the last ten days, hell-flames burned near; but hope-fire blazed ever more real. At times I felt trampled, like grass in a flood:  soggy and mud clogged, bent under raging billows. Sometimes I felt like a tree surviving a winter storm, battered but proud, lifting weathered defiant arms in worship. Many times Elijah’s birds…Read more Art As Sacred Exchange

What Selling Artwork Means to Me

I slid the letter out of the envelope, with a check. My painting, Just to Touch the Hem, sold! I felt thrill of excitement to hold tangible reward for the work of my hands, but also a wash of sadness:  a sliver of my heart, gone forever. Two of my pieces were accepted into the Regional…Read more What Selling Artwork Means to Me

Prophetic Art

“Art is the language of the soul.” With these words, one of my lifelong friends exhorted me as I wrestled for years with an insatiable need to express myself visually. For decades I tried to suppress this language, feeling it could not urgently or adequately address the evils I witnessed in the world. It felt…Read more Prophetic Art

Redemptive Art

I wandered for many years, searching for the space where art, social justice, and faith interweave. For decades, I felt that art and social justice were separate compartments of my life; and I could not find overlap. I painted here and there, but focused the bulk of my energy on the urgent social justice issue of…Read more Redemptive Art

Silence

There was a time in my life when I was stunned into silence. I unexpectedly received news of harm done to someone I love, two days later met the person who caused the harm face-to-face, and then several days after that received medical confirmation for my loved one of resulting lifelong disability. It was too much,…Read more Silence