acrylic, gesso, flashe on baltic birch panel
60 x 48 x 2 in.
Ghost hand reaches for the moon in an act of retrieval. Approaching a threshold, a place of transition. A review of the many lunar cycles passed through, endured, celebrated, mourned. A time to acknowledge the blood lost and built,
The babies. The loves.
The swimming and the drowning in the waters and wells.
The traversing of the deepest darknesses, the discovery of blindingly bright diamonds in your fractured hopes.
Thank God.
Thank the stones and bones, the stuff of mud and ground of lotus roots.
The warm welcome, a return to core.
Hematite, black pearl, jet.
Gauzy, overlapping panels mark the transition, acknowledge the exit/entrance (exit from life before/entrance into the next).
Infinity life death rebirth
Translucent veil, a bride going to the altar.
An act of ritual.
Sacrifice of the self to the next stage–consciously, willingly.
Renewing vows to your soul.
Black void, vast unknown, abyss, cave, pregnant potential.
Fingerprints
Ghost lace
Light rays
Pink clay, terracotta, veridian, butter cream, bronze, dusty blue
Many eyes see multiple dimensions, generations, possible paths
Galactic sprinkles in the background•
acrylic on canvas
60 x 48 x 2 in.
SOLD
A Shrine to Future Ancestors sits on a sandy ground with a deep space backdrop. Translucent layers and repetition of shapes makes a mantra beyond time, opening a gap where we can circle back from the distant future, pay homage to those who came after us, and bless their paths that lead back to our present.
acrylic on canvas
40 x 30 in.
This abstract composition contains suggestions of objects that include a giant needle, a safety pin, and a dress form. The clean lined feminine shapes are painted pinks, nudes, ethereal light blue and earthy brown with a distressed gold overlay. A full moon signals nature’s clock, the tides and intentional release of outmoded ways. The safety pin bridges across a gap that opens to chaos/untapped potential—signaled by the expressive brushwork peeking through in the background.
acrylic on birch panel
48 x 72 x 2 in.
An abstract geometric arrangement of strange shapes with a translucent viridian pyramid. The overall composition is altar-like and functions to transmit prayers or wishes or hopes into private myths that can be lived. Such myths are not rational, nor do they lend themselves to words, but they are sacred and connected to deeply individual inner knowings rooted in the soul.
This quote from the book, The Courage to Create, by Rollo May, summarizes the ideas in Private Myth:
“Human freedom involves our capacity to pause between stimulus and response and, in that pause, to choose the one response toward which we wish to throw our weight. The capacity to create ourselves, based upon this freedom, is inseparable from consciousness or self-awareness.
We are concerned here with how the oracle at Delphi furthers this process of self-creation. Clearly self-creating is actualized by our hopes, our ideals, our images, and all sorts of imagined constructs that we may hold from time to time in the forefront of our attention. These "models" function consciously as well as unconsciously; they are shown in fantasy as well as in overt behavior. The summary terms for this process are symbols and myths. And the shrine of Apollo at Delphi was a concrete expression of these symbols and myths, and it was where they were embodied in ritual.”
acrylic on canvas
40 x 30 inches
NFS
Here’s “wood, water, mirror” a reflection and meditation on the self-destructive part of the psyche that often shows up as addiction. I initiated this piece in the spirit of my most recent series “Shrines to Future Ancestors” with the intention of making peace with, listening to, and trying to understand that exiled entity. Within this theme is the idea of the cyclical nature of time, how we tend to circle back on our many selves, as well as how we can view aspects of these old selves in the same way we do ancestors.
By approaching even the most frightening, monstery parts of ourselves with reverence, patience and curiosity, we learn from them and heal. And any work we do in this way ripples beyond time and space, benefitting not only our present, future and those who follow, but also our past selves and even those who came before us.
The title, "wood, water, mirror," is simple and points to actual parts of the painting which are also common elements used in ritual. The multiple hidden “scars” and cursive-y scrawls beneath the upper layer of paint signify the concealed or cut-off aspects of the psyche and the worldly self, respectively. The layers, used in combination, suggest the reunion of the exiled inner parts with the person in the present. Ultimately, the very top layer—the revelation—simply could not exist without the underlay of wounds, “mistakes,” confusion, and time spent utterly lost. •
acrylic on cavas
40 x 30 x 1.5 in.
SOLD
An Emissary is a messenger or medium sent to deliver an important message. This geometric abstract composition is made of sharp and curvy stacked shapes with suggestions of a third spatial dimension. The fourth dimension arrives in the message contained in the "envelope" in the lower left corner.
acrylic on panel
14 x 11 x .75 in.
Shapes assemble into an Egyptian themed head piece made with a ruby nested inside a translucent viridian circle.
The title, "A Coherence" is inspired by this quote in the book, To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf: "... There is a coherence in things, a stability; something, …is immune from change, and shines out...in the face of the flowing, the fleeting, the spectral, like a ruby..."
acrylic on canvas
48 x 36 x 2 in.
SOLD
A bid to trust your intuition, hone your sense of the sacred in all things, and send out some healing over the distances. The emphasized and worn turquoise extension is a nod to the surging index finger in reiki and calls for the release of fear, the summoning of courage to take risks, identifying and embodying your inner direction, and sparking joy in your actions. This composition also invokes the Hamsa—universal symbol for protection, power and strength.
acrylic on birch panel
72 x 48 x 2 in.
SOLD
I started this painting with the query, “Can you hold both at the same time?” Meaning, can you be with the paradoxes that abound within yourself? If we are to hold our paradoxes within the single vessel of the self, we must become divers and go inward and experience the intertwining tensions. The treasure, the “pearl,” is the full circle realization in answering “yes” to the initial question, requiring that you expand yourself in order to hold both—like the layering of nacre on a pearl.
The floating collection of shapes feels as if fashioned from pieces of a shipwreck—a large chunk of wood, a wire basket, bits of sheer and striped textiles. The arrangement could be a floating sea creature, the shapes at the bottom gathered into a sort of fishtail. Often elegant and soft in real life, many alluring water beings sport venom or spikes (Can you be a tender human and also accept your anger?).
The Pearl Diver, suspended on the light cream background intentionally clear of markings, invites one to view it as a curiosity.