glass mosaic on glass, 2011

I have recently begun working with mosaic as my medium of choice.  At a recent Glass-on-Glass workshop at Bedrock Academy of Mosaic here in Seattle, Washington, I completed this piece.  A very fun class, and a fun little instruction piece.

Madrone before the storm, watercolors, 2011

I have been experimenting a lot with layering watercolors, sometime with the eye to use the watercolor layer as a base onto which I would apply pastels.  I had traveled recently from Seattle to Portland on Amtrak, and did this piece.  I was trying to capture the layers of limbs & leaves, and how light filters through denser & lighter sections of trees.  I also wanted to capture the motion of trees swaying in the wind.

Cell Division, oil pastels on canvas, 2011

Micro versus Macro.  Is this the Earth from space?  Saturn, Venus & Mars shine brightly in the blackness of space. Or is this a human cell under the microscope? Our culture history has volumes about the space we occupy on the planet.  But what if Earth were not ours to begin with?  What then?

Breadfruit Leaf, watercolors on bamboo paper, 2011

I traveled recently to the Caribbean island of Dominica, a small (formerly British, formerly French) colony in the Lesser Antilles.  Breadfruit trees are planted everywhere we went on the island, and I was fascinated by the shape & texture of the leaves of the breadfruit tree (the breadfruit fruit itself is very tasty roasted over an open fire–boiled is a little stodgy & boring.)

This was just a quick watercolor sketch based on the shape & veining of the leaves.

Sunset, oil pastels on bamboo, 2009

I look at this piece nearly every day.  It’s a small card I mailed to myself from Croatia, and although it started just as a free-hand sketch piece (I was trying to capture that boundary layer between the blue-black of the horizon line against the deep red of a sunset), I captured the long shadows that accompany a full-moon rise (the moonrise we cannot see, only feel/intuit.)  It’s spooky,  and the spookiness I think derives from a deja vu feeling that I have been to this (imaginary) place before.

Lombarda Bay, watercolors & pastels on bamboo, 2008

On our travels to Croatia in September & October of 2009, my partner Michele and I spent several balmy afternoons on a rocky beach near the village of Lombarda on Korcula Island.  I’d brought a small set of watercolors & pastels on this trip, and made a small set of greeting cards made from bamboo fibers.

This was just a sketch in watercolors & pastels, trying to capture the shapes of the trees and the various shades of blue in the water.

Bay at Mljet, oil pastels on bamboo, 2009

I finished a series of three postcards while traveling through the Dalmatian Islands of Croatia in the summer of 2009.  One of our first stops was on the small island of Mljet.  This was the view from the terrace of our rented apartment, a fabulous bay of stunningly clear water.  In the inside of the card  I’d written to my partner Michele (and mailed to her, so that this card awaited us on our return):

“Polace, on the island of Mljet, Croatia.  October 2nd, 2009.  A rainy day, puddles of fresh water blot the surface of the sea.  Cliffs of sandstone and Aleppo Pine overlook the inky blue waters of the Adriatic. The rains cleared by midday, and you & I ate plates of grilled sardines at a small restaurant perched between the lane and the boat dock. Remember the Sardines!”

Your Fino

Panda in Snowstorm, pastels on paper, 2008

This is a mixed media piece I created several years ago from a photo printed onto paper and overlaid with pastels.  I’d found the image very compelling–one that speaks to the idea that we can cultivate contentment in the midst of apparent adversity.

Schools II, watercolor and oil pastel on paper, 2010

This is a return to a theme that I began several months ago with a small card.  The card had lacked the expansiveness that I wanted to play with–somehow to show the depth in an undersea landscape, where distances deceive.  For all of our understanding in the world, the ocean floor is a strange place. Schools of squid dance between foreground and background–we really have no way to judge where they “really” are in space.

The Lighthouse, cut marble on terra cotta, 2010

This is my second in a series of marble mosaics.  The base is a sealed terra cotta disc.  I worked a lot with cutting & placing marble pieces, as well as working with lines of stones (rather than grids).