A Venue to Satisfying the Senses

A comfort space for which to be inspired.


A garden art treasure purchased at a lavender festival freckles the flowers with a bit of whimsy.


A nook & cranny to perch & ponder while absorbing the morning sun from undercover.


A peek of "die Behaglichkeit" from the inside.

The Sand Dollar Escapes

While at the Oregon coast this weekend I found solitude in dragging the inside of my right foot in coils around a broken sand dollar. When my knee let me know when to stop, the spiral was 8 ft. wide in diameter. My family & I took a walk along the misty, foggy, eerie shore with our surroundings in the hue of pantone warm gray 1 (uncoated). When we returned the tide had encroached it's place and took it out to sea leaving faint ripples for me to photograph.

Shaking My Confidence Daily

The beginning of something I call Cecilia CLICK HERE. A sketch originally started on our February road trip to Southern Cal. A canvas acrylic started in April. The goal....to get the Cecilia onto the canvas with the vision I have in my head. To be detached from the results is the mental block keeping her from getting there as well as the necessary solitude. I am consumed with the 3rd grade mosaic project. I'm in a constant ebb and flow of creating, organizing and preparing. It's a process that has fluidity even though the minutiae comes in great magnitudes.

Artistically Molding the Minds of Adolescents

With the aide of my trusty husband we constructed the substrate for the 3rd grade mosaic tile project (an unwritten law of marriage that binds him to doing the brunt work of my "big idea" projects & that he in himself is an incredibly talented, intelligent, generous, dependable and clever guy...thank you!) Together a 4' x 8' donated piece of plywood and a sheet of cement board creates the base the children will adhere the black boarder tile to. The center space left blank with plywood will house the 5.5" x 5.5" "grid" blocks the students will individually create then puzzle together to compose the larger design shown below.


Last Friday was the first interaction with the 8/9 year olds. thanks to the help of volunteers and their teachers we taped down layers of art, plastic wrap and the fiberglass mesh they will tile...this Friday. The boys especially were enthralled with the thick blue painters tape. They chose to use the most pieces and to mummy their friends heads and tape their mouths (genius minds at work). Silly boys. This Friday should be interesting. Above shows the painted grid uncut for little fingers to transmogrify.

Thought Free Think Tank

This is where I retreat for a mental cleanse of my cluttered prolific mind. When a multitude of images crowd inside my head or if all imagery has left me destitute....I can depend on a quality soak to soothe the senses. A $250 perfectly patina'd, salvaged, cast iron clawfoot tub with gentle bumps & bruises spanning 92 years, served with a chilled goblet of lime flavored "Acqua Minerale Naturale" from San Lorenzo Italy while enjoing the jazzy tunes of Melody Gardot-CLICK HERE, decompresses my self inflicted rubbish into fragments that no longer matter.

Encapsulated essence of being a child

My creative collaboration of effort, insight and whimsy. With the assembly of art supplies, a wee bit of vision and the patience taken to complete the process, my artistic donations have been silently bid upon and sold all in the best interests of elementary school children. While out for a walk last month I photographed playground equipment at each of the two elementary school playgrounds in my community. Three photos from each school were chosen for a balanced composition and are forever encapsulated in encaustic medium. Each wax box is built with a quote from Ch'an Master Wumen Huikai(aka Mumon 1183-1260- head monk of Longxaing monastery in China) "If the mind is not cluttered with unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life." To me...the precious essence of being a child.