Acrylic Paintings

This painting is dear to me.  I love aspens.  One tree is connected to many by the roots system.  I have taken painting classes off for a long time, and I recently took classes that reminded me of "underpainting."  Underpainting is painting the complimentary color underneath the color that you finish with-  it makes the finished painting more vibrant.  Additionally, in the book of Job, there are verses about animals.  Maybe God is saying that work done by his hands is wild, dangerous and free while work done by our hands captures the aspects of an animal’s nature that serves our needs.  For that reason, I align myself with a "wise and patient owl," due to the very arduous journey that I just emerged from, and the nature of growth.  My mother died in March. Her personality, decisions, illness are all the underpainting that makes me more vibrant and connected to others. I used some of her ashes in the paint.

One of my friends asked me how it felt to use some of my mom's ashes in the painting, and I answered "lumpy."

This was a dude in a renaissance hair band at the renaissance festival just south of Denver

Back when I traveled too much for work, I took a few days to visit Manhattan with a friend.  We rode bikes in Central Park, and I saw this violinist performing next to the Christopher Columbus statue.

I did this as a commissioned work for a client.

First off, none of these images are of me. I just say that because I have been asked in the past.  But most all were made during an afternoon in a life drawing open studio

In 2016, I went on my first mission trip to Swaziland (now called E-Swatini, which TOTALLY sounds more like a party drink and not a country).  It was an amazing trip and we got to hold and teach vacation bible school for hundreds of children in an orphanage in Bulembu. One of the last art projects was creating tie dye tshirts for the children.

This is a drawing/painting of one of my dear friend's house in NC

This is a scarf I did for my cousin with all of her grandchildrens' names on it

Photo from Manhattan using a multi processed painting technique involving india ink, pen and ink, white tempera paint, a bathtub, and a sponge.

I started this with a hospice patient who loved art.  Just never finished it