Upon reflecting over this past year, I feel very blessed. Thank you all for your continued support! I truly appreciate it!

Sending good wishes for this holiday season and into the new year!

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller, Author

Love to all of my family, friends and supporters! Thank you!

Happy Valentines Day!

I'm dreaming of spring! After being in sunny Mexico a couple of weeks ago, I returned back to the grey skies of Portland. But there are little growths coming out of the ground that make me happy and excited for spring.

I went through my storage and found this gem from my cellist painting days. The title is "Relativity", and is 60" x 48" painted in 2006. At the time I was working with the idea of multiple sounds of the cellists working in harmony. So I started painting two cellists on one canvas. When I hung it up yesterday for a client to see, I found it interesting that I am now putting two trees together in my current work. I enjoy seeing how the abstracted trees in my paintings, as well as the physical trees that inspired me, relate to one another. The relationship of subjects working together may be a recurring theme in my work.

While going through images to find a good photo for good wishes this Holiday, I found this one. I originally turned it down because it was too spring-like. However, I came back to it. I took this photo in the arts district in Beijing this past spring.

Today, The shortest day of the year, is a time to spend with family, observe the changes in nature and reflect on what's happened in the past year. I am so fortunate to have such great relationships with my family and friends. You have all helped me so much over the past year. Nothing can replace that. Thank you!

Tomorrow is the beginning of each day becoming lighter and brighter. This is an opportunity for new personal growth. That is why this image spoke to me this morning. I like the grouping of trees, all different, yet work together in harmony. I love the color interactions with the vibrant spring green against the old red bricks. I love seeing the bricks though the vines in which an unknown amount of new growth will appear. The graffiti on the walls adds an element of young human vitality. All together, there is such life in this photo, from old to new; from still to active; from freedom to the unknown.

I wish everyone a peaceful holiday season, a beautiful winter solstice, and a flourishing new year.

I had never been to China before, and the first thing that struck me were the hundreds of thoughtfully pruned trees everywhere. This has become the focus of my new body or work which will be exhibited in March, 2017 in Washington DC at the Susan Calloway Fine Arts Gallery. I am still creating on this body of work. You can get sneak peaks if you follow me on instagram or facebook. Or follow my blog here.

I am saddened that our country is so politically divided. Families too are divided.

The opposition reminds me of a body of work I created while living in Hawaii for a short period in 2007. I realized that in Hawaii, many opposites exist together and are dependent on one-another. I re-read my statement about that body of work (you can read here: Island Rhythms—Essential Counterparts for Life and Harmony).

It's been a while, but I've finally updated my website. I hope you enjoy it!

This new painting, A Clear View, is 58″ x 68″. It is a part of my new works I painted after spending 5 weeks in Provence last summer.

In 2010, I went to Mexico for the first time. I booked a room at La Paloma in Ajijic. Some friends of mine were looking to retire there, and were staying at the same Bed and Breakfast.

I almost didn't book the flight, because I was scared I would be bored. I knew I needed a vacation, but all of my previous vacations have been packed full with attending cultural events, visiting museums, and looking at contemporary art at the local galleries from the, usually, metropolitan cities. But this trip, I was traveling by myself to a very small village in Mexico and I didn't speak any Spanish. The B&B was owned by American's, so I felt like they could at least point me in the right direction. But my fear was that there would be nothing to do, and I would only sit by the pool. I don't like going to the beach. I don't like swimming. And I don't like sitting in the sun. With skin cancer in my family, I generally try to stay out of the sun. What if I just couldn't stand it. A claustrophobic fear came about. I decided to try and conquer that fear.

I was thrilled to see this in the May June Issue of New York Spaces Magazine. This is the cover story for this Issue. A special thanks to Edda Elias and Associates for choosing my artwork for this beautiful space. And thanks to Portland Fine Art for selling it to them.