My Inspiration

I am a lover of nature.  I am also a lover of thought; of connection, of feeling, of meaning.  

You will find that my paintings vary in subject, yet there are many common themes or common inspirations to them.  Each and every painting has its own story.  

Perhaps that story comes from a beautiful land in Wyoming that I have been blessed to spend many summers working, learning, and building community.  It was there I lost myself, and there I found myself.  So many of the hills, rills, trees, rocks, streams, and of course the lake hold memories of friendship, leadership, and service... and ultimately life changing experiences. 

Perhaps for you my paintings inspired by that land will be but a mere beautiful landscape, or perhaps it will remind you of a different place in nature dear to you, perhaps they depict a dream of yours, or the colors are simply pleasing to you.  All of these reasons for connecting to a piece of my art are wonderful.  I believe that though an artist my have a story or feeling associated with their piece, the viewer has their own as well, and there is no need for them to resemble each other!  Isn't that simply beautiful?! 

Some other key themes for my inspiration are the importance of children's play, of protecting the environment, of sustainability, of human kindness, of diversity, and so on.  

So go, open you heart to connect to some art. 

Thoughts on Watercolor Painting

Some say that watercolor is one of the trickiest mediums of art.  And yet, it is also the first kind most kids are exposed to.  You were probably two or three years old when you got your first little yellow backed pallet with seven or eight ovals of different bright colors lined up inside, along with your first try holding a plastic paint brush with the bristles made of stiff synthetic plastic, frayed out every which way within a matter of minutes.  You probably smashed that brush into one color and then another and splashed it out across a piece of paper, happy to be making a colorful mess that, given enough time, would likely be brown… with your pallet following suit.  

What is it about watercolor painting that makes a child smile and laugh and an adult get frustrated?  

Perhaps it is because watercolor is hard to control, it can be unpredictable and unforgiving, with mistakes being hard to correct.  Perhaps, for an adult, this feels too much like life.  

For a young child however, who has yet to be concerned with their mistakes and who is not focused on controlling and keeping everything around them held together in a semblance of order, watercolor is simply fun.  

As we grow older, we often become more perfectionist, more concerned about what consequences our actions have, and we often dislike the thought of failure.  Watercolor, I have found, is an interesting way to explore these emotions.