My muse lives and breathes in the Southwest Ohio deciduous forest & in the home that my husband Ken & I share with our golden-doodle Sophie.  

Our modern-rustic ‘tree-house’ is fully glazed on three sides, is supported by authentic hand-hewn 1870's barn columns and is nestled along a ridge that overlooks 150 acres of state forest. Transforming with each moment and throughout each season, the forest's embrace remains our constant and treasured companion.

My 5-year professional architecture degree included nearly a year's immersion in the living art and architecture of Italy.  Understandably, many of my earlier paintings represented the landscape in a nearly architectural fashion.  These 'tree spirit' paintings could best be described as expressive sections and elevations that allow peek-a-boo views of the richly layered forest beyond.  

My muse has begun leading me both physically and artistically from the edge of the forest into the woods.  During meditative walks, I will pause, sit, and sketch the plants and trees that greet me there.  Simple botanical studies and color matching of natural elements enrich this experience.  My forest visits expand the love that I have long felt for plant-life and these feelings of tenderness become infused in my work.

While the unique vantage point that allowed for a clear view of the forest's edge required a certain distance from it, my more recent paintings are growing more intimate.  The once illusive separation has begun to dissolve.  As if standing before a sheet of glass that has suddenly transformed into a delicate waterfall, ‘Grace’ reaches through and gently guides me... layer by layer into something new.