Spring Is On The Way!

As I write this post I can hear the sloshing shovels of my neighbors digging themselves out from under two days of snowfall. It's that wet and heavy half-frozen slushy-kind that is better left on the ground lest you find yourself face down in it. I've got 911 on speed dial just in case my neighbor's heart decides for him that it's time to stop shoveling. It certainly has been cold and gray for several days now and that has us all yearning for sunshine.

Spring really isn't all that far off ~ come to think of it ~ so what better time to share some new pieces fresh from the studio! I've recently completed two collections of spring designs that I'll be bringing with me to DC in April. The two below are my favorites from the bunch. Click on the images to see larger version of each.


Amaryllidaceae musicalus (id 813; image size: 7 w x 10.5 h inches). This piece includes maps and stamps as well as sheet music and Italian currency featuring Maria Montessori.



Crocus molluscianii (id 809; 7 w x 10.5 h inches). This design includes the decorative edging from vintage maps as well as snippets from an antique comic book about the life of Buddha.

There are six crocus and six amaryllis designs altogether. You can view the entire collection by visiting my photostream on Flickr. In the coming days I'll be uploading several other design collections including Orchids and Ferns.

Where You Work

The place I work in fills with light early in the day. Sun streaks across the room and warms the air. Neighbors wander off to where ever it is they go. The building is quiet and still. When in need of a dose of commotion, I walk down the block to bustling Market Street. It's always good to return and step back into the calm. Sit down and work.

The Nature of Inspiration

The study of natural history reveals one over-arching theme that I find fascinating. Not one creature or element in nature is strictly one thing or another. A tree is not just a tree: a tree is both solid and liquid; hard and soft; rough and smooth. The more you study nature, the more complex it becomes. Every thing is an elaborate combination of opposites.


Consider the lowly mollusk. Icky snails. Slimy wormish creatures that live in a shell creeping slowly along the ocean floor. A basic life form that is everything at once: both rock hard and gelatinous; shiny smooth yet rough and sticky; vulnerable and also deadly; beautiful and ugly. A simple-brained creature that, in cross-section, reveals a structure that would require mathematical calculation to replicate. Complex but ultimately not. There is so much inspiration to be found in nature ~ in the world right outside the window. So much or none at all.

"In wildness is the preservation of the world" ~ Henry David Thoreau

A New Year

I woke up this morning with a HUGE list of resolutions in my head! Working harder in the studio is one of them. Writing regular blog posts is another. No reason I can't do both.

I've been having a grand time learning how to take better pictures. This is a photo of me (or rather, my shadow) in Harpers Ferry, WV on Christmas Day. Shadow will be a recurring theme in my work this year. Some of my favorite photos will be translated into large drawings and some will be mounted into handbound books. I'm looking forward to taking my work in a new direction!