Days to Come

"stars slip away into the night
the world turns, relinquishing the daylight

the heart roams with a dream
and yearns to believe

holding close this wondrous journey
and hopes for the days that will be"


WELCOME 2009 and All the Possibilites!

Visions of Wonderland

Rain, Fog, Cold...
paints a halo of diamonds upon Nature's canvas

and I feel just like Alice...
peering through the looking glass.

For Christmas - A Poem

"blustery, blustery winds so cold,
amidst the ice and falling snow,
we celebrate that Christmas comes,
and pray for peace with good will towards all"

...wishing you hope, light, and love today, & always.



do you have a Christmas poem you would like to share?

A Full Heart's Bounty

It is hard to believe that Christmas is almost here. How quickly the days have passed. Although I have been enjoying the holidays with their usual hustle and bustle, I have felt more quiet and reserve over these last several weeks. There is this familiarity inside... this sense of gathering inward to embrace the stillness of the coming season. It is in these moments of repose, that words seem to escape me, or do not appear adequate to say all that my heart feels.

So, I continue to fumble with how to truly express all the emotions that come with Christmas... that come with seeing another year to its conclusion, and feeling blessed.

Winter has indeed arrived upon the Plains in all of its glory and magnificent splendor. Yet even in the very bitter cold and biting wind, I find myself drawn outside, trying to behold the wonders of a now blank canvas that whispers in hushed tones to those that will listen. There is much peace in the silence and serenity of these gifts from nature.

When I am not outside, I am lured like a moth to the flame, to gaze out a window.

I love the light that Winter casts inside my warm home. Through glass panes tinted with frost and delicate snowflake masterpieces, the radiant glow of a soft gray sky seems almost magical. It creates an atmosphere of tranquility that can not be found during any other time of the year.


"these are the joys life gives
keen the quiet moments prevailing,

to sing the song of days unfolded,
crowned by yet another year passing,

where do the precious hours go,
swift and fleeting to become what was,

we cast our eyes with great longing
hoping to know a full heart's bounty."

And Winter Came

closely held, serene and still,
deep within each tender heart
is a longing for the day
there would be a world in white

and with the hush of falling snow
we celebrate such wondrous delight
we celebrate the new start given
amidst a world of winter white

Nature Inspired

If you can imagine a small slice of heaven in the middle of rural western Wisconsin, then you MUST be thinking about Valley Ridge Art Studio.

I am EXCITED to share that I will be teaching Nature Inspired, a two day workshop, at Valley Ridge in late August 2009.

The Studio is located on a 120-acre farm. Homesteaded one hundred years ago, the farm has gone through many transitions. Once the home to cattle, sheep, and chickens, the farm now provides respite to hawks, eagles, turkey, pheasant, deer and coyote. It juxtaposes the rich complexities of art and expression with the simplicity of the surrounding natural environment.

This visit to Valley Ridge is particularly poignant and exciting for me. I will be celebrating the debut of my new book published by Rockport/Quarry. I am thrilled to come to rural Wisconsin to be among friends, as well as being completely enveloped by the beauty of nature and the serenity of this place. I have plenty of surprises planned for all attendees.

Sign-ups begin Monday, December 15th and classes close very quickly, so don't wait!

On a Whim

I have been busy in the studio these days creating a new work for the monthly art challenge, Nature Gathered.

The theme for November is Fauna. Normally, we post our artworks within the corresponding days of a particular month, but because of the holidays the November deadline was extended into December.

I have finished my piece, and thought I would share some of the steps I took during this journey.

By definition Fauna means : animal life ; especially : the animals characteristic of a region, period, or special environment.

Although, I had the choice of incorporating any sort of animal into this artwork, I could not stop thinking about how closely the word Fauna sounded to the word Fawn.

After pondering this thought for well over a week, I decided to yield to this whim and select a Fawn as the main subject.



The background for this piece was very time consuming. Many, many layers of ink washes were applied to create the deepest blue of the heavens.

As with every other work that I have done for the art challenge, this idea of pattern and patterning has been a reoccurring theme. I wanted to continue along this path by mimicking the lines of the earth within the area of the sky.

So, I traced out the contours depicted in the grass and cut a crude stencil.

Using a very fine glitter, I applied swaths of tinsel to the dark blue of the painting.

Even though the sky seemed very alive with what looked like a brilliant starry night, I decided to add larger elements of interest. These unusual buttons were treasures found during my trip to Houston for the International Quilt show.


Here is the completed work.

Update 12/11: After posting the completed work, I continued to feel as if it was missing something. Since Tuesday, I have been on the hunt for just the right finishing touch. I discovered that perfect piece today while rummaging through a jar of various buckles.

At the bottom of the jar, there was a mother-of-pearl buckle simply begging to be used. Although oversized for the artwork, it makes the perfect half-moon and a nice balance to the fawn.
So, here is the completed work with a slight revision.

I invite you to visit the Nature Gathered blog to see other nature inspired artworks!

Holiday Delights

Feeling just like one of Santa's elves these past days, I have been working diligently to hand stitch little poetry books that are all headed for the post next week.

There are still copies of this new little book available for gift giving. Purchase one as a wonderful treasure for yourself or for someone special in your life.

My little shop is also filled to the brim with other charming holiday delights, such as NEW! Winter Inspired Gifts of Nature Tags, Everyday Gifts of Nature Tags, and copies of my first poetry book, "Small Glimpses, One Life's Earnest Path".

Any of these would make a perfect stocking stuffer, and every purchase comes beautifully wrapped, ready for giving.

I will continue to package orders this weekend, along with helping hubby decorate the house with lights, a beautiful tree and of course wrapping lovely presents to go under that tree.

I thought I would leave you with an excerpt from the pages of "Quiet Moments, A Reflection of Days Unfolded

" this low light at end of day
the brilliant sky in fiery hues of gray,

a crescent moon sings us to sleep
under the blanket of winter's keeping,

mere reflections of noble simplicity
just a remembrance of life's sweet majesty"



UPDATE 12/9 - ALL December 10th PRE-ORDERS for "Quiet Moments, A Reflection of Days Unfolded" were shipped on MONDAY, December 8th. There are 4 books available to ship immediately. Once those have sold the next set of PRE-ORDERS will be mailed out on December 20th.