1) What inspires your work right now?

My portfolio draws inspiration from nature, with my latest series exploring animal sentience by showing expressions in squirrels and frogs normally attributed to human consciousness. The large, high-quality paintings aim to strengthen the viewer's connection to the animals depicted.

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2) What themes or ideas are you exploring in your current work?

Sentience and feeling in wild creatures. I am helping to close the distance humans have between themselves and other life forms. In general, expressing reverence for all life forms.

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3) ​What is your favorite piece in this feature and why?

​That is like asking a parent- which is your favorite child? Each piece has aspects that I find delightful! But if I had to pick just one:

'Temperance' — This painting has a powerful presence. Against a backdrop of upheaval, the fire represents rapid transformation, while the squirrel embodies remarkable composure. The scale of the painting, (42 x 52”) and contrast between the squirrel’s disposition and the fiery background seems like an allegory for the times we are living through. 

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4) What artists (past or present) influence you?

There are so many to choose from. The masters of chiaroscuro oil painters (extreme light contrast) in Caravaggio, Artemesia Gentileschi, and Rembrandt are my favorite paintings to study in museums and books. 

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Georgia O’Keefe’s work continues to impress me with her exquisite sense of composition, color, and form. Her power to elevate plants, flowers and landscapes and change the way people see them is awe inspiring. I love finding a new (to me) one of her paintings. As an artist that grew up in the desert of AZ myself, I find her landscapes of New Mexico so evocative and deeply familiar.

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Laurie Anderson inspires me with her performance art and ability to conceptualize multimedia works. She continually contributes innovation in her approach and messages. I have seen her perform many times and each time, I walk away both ecstatic and intriguingly challenged.

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My new favorite is Pon Arsher, a current Maldivian artist that does amazing large scale figurative works that represent the complex inner life experiences of multi-figured scenes within one central figure. Her work is amazing!

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5) What do you hope viewers feel or take away from your work?

Appreciation and reverence for the natural world.

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6) What is one thing people might be surprised to learn about you?

I am as wild about creating gardens, soil mixes, and  landscape designs as I am painting them. A day tending and developing the garden gives me the same rush as a day/night painting in the studio.