I have worked in diverse media since the mid-1980s and my art references and reveres the natural world. I look forward to continuing an exploration of media and process for the remainder of my art-making years.

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The recent tree pastels were motivated by the mystery inherent in trees. Some species including bristlecone pines, oaks, olive and yew outlive humans by hundreds, and sometimes a couple thousand years. Trees communicate chemical messages to other trees by interconnected networks of roots. My art focuses on form, trunks that oddly intertwine, bark textures, and patterns of leaf configurations. The stranger the tree, the more it interests me as a subject. I have drawn, painted and printed monotypes of trees since 1997 but have only recently revisited trees as a subject.

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The mixed media eco-prints are a celebration of plants with eco-dyed botanicals on fabrics combined with actual three-dimensional plant leaves, pods and grasses. The fabrics are first prepared with mordants (binding the color pigments to the fibers), modifiers (helping to shift a color), and blankets (delivery vehicles soaked in a dye, mordant or tannin).

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After placement of the leaves and preparing several layers of material, the fabric is tightly rolled and tied into a bundle to steam for 90 minutes in a boiling pot of water. During processing the dye travels from the blanket through the botanicals and attaches to the fabric being printed because it has been mordanted before the layering.

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Encaustic monotype is a magical and exciting process. One-of-a-kind images are transferred to paper using melted encaustic paints (pigment, beeswax and resin). My series of landscapes depicts existing and imaginary places. I call on the memory of landscapes with imagination playing the largest role in my work. The topography of undiscovered landscapes comes to life as I overprint and develop the monotypes with repeated applications of color. Most of the images capture the craggy mesas and high eserts of northern New Mexico.

The mixed media assemblages of found objects in wooden boxes evolved from earlierp intings and pastels related to plant forms. This new three-dimensional format challenged me to configure composition in new ways. I painted encaustic wax panels, collaged and stamped rice papers, and printed monotypes in combination with seed pods, branches, bone and coral. I enjoy assembling objects with my printed images and playing with unusual combinations of dissimilar objects. 

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