Art as Story

My Paintings express my love of stories. Mythology, books, nature, contemporary news, and my personal experiences are fodder to be spun into the narratives of my artwork. The Nature Box series launched with my observations of the plethora of birds on a trip to the Missouri Ozarks. The flat paper is painted on both sides then cut and folded into a cube without use of adhesives. The images under the folded flaps stay secreted from view until opened by the recipient. “Indirect Flight,” was created in the afterglow of a visit to the Rosicrucian Museum in San Jose. Bird, cat, and fish mummies enshrined in centuries-stained, linen woven strips haunted me with their strangeness and beauty. A fascination with illuminated manuscripts led me to create my own large ones. My “Book of Turns” is a series of narrative paintings with decorative borders—some loaded with gold ink. A book may spark my interest as “Reward” from Eudora Welty’s “Delta Wedding”. A vintage apron modeled for the painted roses. I don’t necessarily set out to make themes about the life and death cycle but somehow, get there. After all, art is a record, a snapshot, of an event that passes—dies.

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