WELCOME

As I lay in bed one fine morning, listening to the pelting rain (an unusual way to greet the day in Colorado), I was reminded, viscerally, of the joy I felt as a kid on summer mornings when I knew that the rain gods had heard my request. In particular, I’d petitioned that the normal day-camp activities of outdoor games, sports, and pool-swimming would be cancelled, and instead we’d all be sequestered in the giant old barn, destined for a day of arts & crafts. Total bliss.

I find the simple act of creating instantly enlivening. Investigating the visual language of color and form and non-form is as thrilling as making a study of someone’s body language.

Speaking of bodies: I admit that I’m also not against a good obsession. It could be the sudden need to discover what happens to people’s corpses should they happen to perish on a cruise ship (there’s a sizable morgue on every ship, apparently), or just a pressing urge to find out when Sarah Koenig will be finished with the latest season of her podcast Serial (talk about in-depth journalism!), or—if it’s not available yet—then perhaps my favorite Dubliner mystery author, Tana French, has put out a new book. When all else fails, I tap into Caitlin Doughty’s brilliant death-positive videos (hilarious and on-point), which you too could find on her site, The Order of the Good Death.

So, you see, I like to investigate in a somewhat obsessive way. My art is cheerfully influenced by these obsessions.

I was at a dinner party not long ago at which a nice gal asked me “So, what do you do?” (not a typical Boulder question).  I yammered on about my previous 20-year career as a Montessori educator, waxed poetic about my longtime passion for editorial and the topics beautifully broached in my husband’s Zen Money book trilogy, and then, when her eyes glazed over, I added: “Oh, and I am a painter.” She perked up on the spot and screamed, “Now that I believe!”

What I didn’t share is the earthy and delightful truth of my life: Weaving in and through all of the above has been a rich journey of partnership and parenting and dharma practice. I guess this counts as some kind of life credential, but that’s a weird thing to say, and I don’t think that’s what our party gal was after.

And then there’s heavy cream. Did you know that the Kalona SuperNatural cows are happily dwelling on small Amish farms in the American Midwest, and that their gorgeous grass-fed milk products are small-batch, low-temperature pasteurized and that nothing in their creamery is homogenized? Well, this is important to me, because the list of food items that benefit from a swoosh of heavy cream is impressive. We will discuss.

Meantime, thanks for visiting my site, and for investigating with me this rich world of color and form and obsession and heavy cream. I hope you’ll enjoy my creations.