I am an artist living in the Northern Rocky Mountains of Montana. My artistic creations reflect my lifelong love of flowers, nature, textiles and color. Wildflowers captured my heart at an early age and drew me to botanical studies and to art. This interest led me to a decades long career as a botanist and scientist with the National Park Service and Forest Service working in wildland landscapes across the western US. Now I can be found in the studio or outside enjoying a favorite wild place.
I work intuitively in creating my art with one step flowing to another and often with no preconceived idea of what will emerge as the final imagery. I may start with random marks or a wash of color on the fabric or paper and let it inform me where to go next. This way of creating is so joyful for me and it is quite addictive.
Textile Art. For the past decade I have enjoyed explorations in textile surface design and for many of these years I created and sold shibori and botanical silk scarves. Recently, I shifted to making textile wall art and find myself experimenting freely with mixed media techniques including felting, dying, shibori, painting, applique, hand and machine stitching. Many of these pieces take the form of pictorial mixed media textile collage. Other pieces feature botanical prints on fabric and paper. I hand dye my own materials with natural or commercial dyes.
Mixed Media Painting. A few years ago I was inspired to start painting again. The paintings flowed in a style very different from that of my earlier years. I primarily work in watercolor - augmented with ink, inktense pencils, crayon and gouache. Most of my paintings arise out of my imagination and are vibrant impressions of the flowers, trees and landscapes I love so much. On occasion, I paint plein air landscapes in the canyonlands of southern Utah, the Rocky Mountain Front of Montana and Alaska.
