" The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads."

~huge gingerbread house at the Jefferson Hotel, downtown Richmond,

not mine, but a beautiful work of art!

Merry Christmas!

"Hog butcher for the world,/ Tool maker, stacker of wheat,/

Player with railroads and the nation's freight handler;/

Stormy, husky brawling,/ City of Big Shoulders."

Carl Sandburg, "Chicago"

the Bean, deep dish pizza, Buckingham fountain,

Chicago style hot dog, White Sox Cellular Field, Navy Pier

~Kids' table and chairs donation for Amate Magic fundraiser 2010

pet portrait, commissioned

Acrylic on wood, pie tray (approx. 10.5''diam.)

Strawberries 'n chocolate pie tray (approx. 10.5" diam.)

acrylic on wood

2 Tomato Pie Trays (approx. 10.5'' diam.)
Quote on bottom: "It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato." ~Lewis Grizzard

"We have all known the long loneliness,

and we have learned that the only solution is love,

and that love comes with community."

~Dorothy Day

commissioned

Buckeye Halftime

commissioned

Mother Teresa
"I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money.
No, I wouldn't touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God."
commissioned



Lake Harriet, Minneapolis
Bandstand and Sailboats
commissioned

Jazz Singer (20''x16'')

Pastels, Pencil

Old Fashioned French Chocolat Ad (20''x16'')

oil on canvas

1 pm, Achill Island, Western Ireland (40''x29 1/2'')

oil on canvas

Bead bracelets

acrylic on wood

Summer picnic:

Watermelon (23''x17''); Cheeseburger (26''x20'')

acrylic on vinyl luggage

Home for Dinner (all 9''x12'')

oil on panel

Gandalf (18''x13'')

oil on canvas

Strawberry Cake and Flowers (24''x28'')

oil on canvas

Yellowstone hot spring and geyser (16''x20'')

The best vacation!

oil on canvas

Misty Valley (14''x11'')

oil on canvas

European Street at Dusk (16''x12'')

oil on canvas

A Painting in Its Natural Habitat (16''x20'')

acrylic on canvas

Opening Stanzas of Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" (12''x9'')

acrylic on canvas

"The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,

The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,

The plowman homeward plods his weary way,

And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,

And all the air a solemn stillness holds,

Save where the beetle winds his droning flight,

And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds."

...

The Good Kind of Fat (11''x14'')

acrylic on canvas

Dedicated to my mom, who proclaims nearly every time she

slices open an avocado,

"this is the most beautiful avocado I've ever seen."

Pansies (12''x9'')

acrylic on canvas

Spanish street (acrylic on canvas, 11''x14'')

Cordoba City Mosque (acrylic on canvas, 11''x14'')

Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain (acrylic on canvas, 11''x14'')

Indian Market Scene (Acrylic on canvas, 16''x20'')

First Stanza of T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

(acrylic on canvas, 16''x20'')

Mother Teresa' 5-Finger Prayer (acrylic on canvas, 8"x10")

completes Matthew 25:40: "As often as you did it to one of the least of my brothers or sisters..."

Chi-town Skyline (acrylic on canvas, 8"x10")

Richmond Scenes, acrylic on canvas

Bridge on James River (16''x20''); Koi at Maymont (18''x24'')

Considering Creative Works

Madeleine L'Engle has several insightful thoughts in her book Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith & Art. She reflects on her own creative writing experience as well as incorporates other artists' thoughts.

"Most artists are aware that during the deepest moments of that creation, they are out on the other side of themselves, and so are free from time, with the same joyousness that comes in the greatest moments of prayer." -L'Engle

"The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don't see." -James Baldwin

"And as I listen to the silence, I learn that my feelings about art and my feelings about the Creator of the Universe are inseparable. To try to talk about art and about Christianity is for me one and the same thing, and it means attempting to share the meaning of my life, what gives it, for me, its tragedy and its glory." -L'Engle

"...when the words mean even more than the writer knew they meant, then the writer has been listening. And sometimes when we listen, we are led into places we do not expect, into adventures we do not always understand." -L'Engle

"The poet wrote the poem, no doubt. But he forgot himself while he wrote it, and we forget him while we read...We forget, for ten minutes, his name and our name, and I contend that this temporary forgetfulness, this momentary and mutual anonymity, is sure evidence of good stuff." -E.M. Forster