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
nature
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
Shattering Into Light (2)
There is a tragedy that stalks me year after year. The precipitating event is over and done with, resounding in its finality; but the repercussions morph through time. It is a question with no answer, a terrible wrong that cannot be righted, a haunting that cannot be exorcised. Sometimes I am angry. Like Edvard Munch's…Read more Shattering Into Light (2)
Summer Will Come
My beloved Grandma, otherwise known as Gigi, always used to say, “This too shall pass.” Far more than a cliché to her, the phrase allowed her to laugh in the face of life's tragedies. Her Irish merriment, sprinkled liberally through the years, seasons me still. It broke her heart to send her husband off to…Read more Summer Will Come
A Prayer for My Country
Here in Colorado, I breathe thick orange haze of Western wildfires, even as Texans stumble through water-logged debris, and evacuees flee Florida. With all its warts and weaknesses, America is the country I love. Generations of my family fought for the freedoms I cherish today. I've traveled the world and witnessed first-hand the alternatives to…Read more A Prayer for My Country
Summer Rain – A Photo Essay
My beautiful and talented young friend, Brittin Lane Morrell, and I were merrily working on a photo-shoot for Pamba Toto when storm clouds churned overhead and wind blustered down the little alley where we were composing shots. Both our eyes lit up. We love storms. We corralled the wind into a couple shots, then…Read more Summer Rain – A Photo Essay
Dandelion
Do I truly believe... when the sacred center shatters, when hope is flung like dandelion parachutes into frigid wind, when all presses down into winter sleep when all is lost... Do I truly believe... when only the hollow stalk remains, unloved, dry, cracking.. it is not the end of the story? Could it be my…Read more Dandelion
Loving You Still (Always)
I lie flat on my back in rustling shade, gazing at the wide-eyed blue eye of forever, clear as far as I can see. Then sneaking into the outer rim of my vision, billows of twirling whirligigs, shrouding the afternoon sun. I sit up, surprised, as myriad ripple across the sky, like laughter. The…Read more Loving You Still (Always)
Art in the everyday
My most treasured creative contribution to this world is my children. To study the raw materials of their souls and guide and encourage them to become all they are created by God to be, that is the deepest desire of my heart. I send them like arrows out into the world, to…Read more Art in the everyday
Unless A Grain of Wheat Falls….
All around me the earth flutters. Dreaming of the future, it sends messages like little notes for tomorrow, twirling in gray dawn sky, like rain. The tree is determined to hope. How does the tree know it is time? How am I here at just this moment to witness its innermost thoughts? No one tells the tree,…Read more Unless A Grain of Wheat Falls….