Meditations
What if gravity is fear?
As a child asleep, I dreamt of flying. For years. That running start and awkward lateral leap into air – low parallel flying. Night after night, terrified I would fall, but mysteriously compelled to keep trying……to rooftop…..to treetop…..into clouds……above clouds. Gradually I began flying during the day – daydreaming. I got better at it. Now, at 68, I have skills. I can fly really fast and high and even deep into space, and yes, getting off the ground is still scary.
So what does flying have to do with this body of watercolors? The subjects in these meditative paintings are metaphors and symbols for serious human worries – survival, religion, money, health, lust, integrity, war, addiction, cruelty, judgement, love, beauty, success, failure, compassion, aging, death, life. You know, all the stuff we regular folks can’t escape and go crazy over. But guess what I have discovered – that despite all the worries, I can still fly! In fact I think I may need to existentially push against the fears to spring past gravity. These paintings are my explorations into a universe beyond time and gravity.
My studio is small and home to many spirits – beautiful papers, luscious paints, sable brushes, weathered bones, rusted iron tools, rocks, jewels, shell fragments, worlds of books. These treasures tell me their stories. My job is to listen and to muster enough faith to open the door of fear - step through - liftoff and fly free, with no particular destination.
In these paintings you can share my adventures, the questions I’ve pondered and truths I’ve glimpsed. If you’re afraid to trust, or your worries are just too heavy, or you’re simply a curious cat, take my hand and we’ll leap together – my treat. You’re here – so have fun space fans.
One Short of a Dozen
13” X 28” watercolor and gouache
(oil tins, bird eggs & lace panel)
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Surf and Turf with Monkshood Garnish
10 ¼” X 19 ½” watercolor
(pick axe head, shell & monkshood foliage)
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Migration
10 ¼” X 19 ½” watercolor
(human skull, wild rye, aspen twig and ruby-throated hummingbirds)
SOLD
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Ascension
32” X 18 ½” watercolor
(monkshood, mountain grasses, deer skull, calipers, wings & crusher ball)
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Spiked
12” X 13 ½” watercolor
(beaver skull & railroad spike)
SOLD
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
In the Beginning, I
29” X 9” watercolor
(pelican skull & egg)
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Windchimes
28 ¾” X 13” watercolor
(iron, steel, bacula & locust branch)
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Design 101
17 ¼” X 11 ½” watercolor
(protractor & shell)
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Offering to Winter
28 ½” X 22” watercolor
(cow femur, mesquite pyre, sulphur matches, aspen twig, wild rose hip, gauze ribbon & rufous hummingbird)
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Balance
18 ¾” X 9 ¾” watercolor
(emu egg & bison vertebra)
SOLD
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Against the Wind, Odysseus I
18 ½” X 11” watercolor
(axe head, shell fragment, mountain grasses & snail)
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
By a Thread
18 ½” X 11” watercolor
(axe head, shell fragment, cotton twine, mountain grasses & snail)
SOLD
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Armor
15” X 15” watercolor
(fossilized ammonite and human index finger)
SOLD
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Empty Nest
14” X 13 ½” watercolor and graphite
(robin nest)
SOLD
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Devil's Garden, Odysseus II
22” X 18” watercolor
(devil’s claws, Navaho pearls, cultured pearls, gauze ribbon & snail)
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Enthroned
19” X 13” watercolor
(specimen jar with formaldehyde, chameleon, miniature ceramic chair & shell)
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Holier Than Thou
18” X 26” graphite, watercolor, enamel & gouache
SOLD
Crusader's Cross
25” X 15 ½” watercolor
(elk sacrum & amethyst pendant)
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Puma and Chipmunk
19 ½” X 14” watercolor
(puma skull, chipmunk & mountain grasses)
SOLD
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
A Small Vice
20 1/4 X 18 1/4" watercolor
(kit fox skull, iron vice, dead wood fragment & pearls)
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Reviving Ophelia
30” X 38” graphite
SOLD
Sabotaging Myself
28” X 21” graphite, watercolor, enamel & gouache
SOLD
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Bait and Switch
32" X 14" watercolor
(mining ore-bucket hook and chain, ring-necked snake, gold & jewel embellishment)
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Backbone
29 ½“ X 13 ½” graphite, watercolor & gouache
SOLD
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
West Watching
32 1/2" X 26" watercolor
(deer skull, quartz and river rock, chipmunk, mountain wildflowers & grasses)
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
Love in Paradox, Odysseus III
32" X 12" watercolor
(river rock, pine cone, acorn husk, sea shell, snail shell & snailt)
archival limited-edition prints available in shop
