Greetings and Happy Spring! Our Star Magnolias, Flowering Plums and other budding trees are full of white blossoms and silver leaf buds – even though we had wet snow flurries and hail three days ago - Spring is moving into full view! Brilliant white blossoms blowing in the wind, mixed up with snow - the whole scene was mesmerizing and surreal – I could not clearly see or focus on any one thing. This monotype attempts to express these sensations. I remember a wonderful Japanese woodblock print that so eloquently expressed Plum blossoms amidst falling snow. “Spring” 18″ x 24″ 
Springtime Can Bring ANYTHING
It’s raining again.
For the most part, western Washington is beautiful, bountiful and all summer my garden boasts the best green grazing at lunchtime. However, weeks on end of dark days, heavy skies and bone-chill slushy rain is NOT fun. In fact, it’s miserable. In my studio, I enjoy a balmy 64 degrees, but my husband’s wooden boat shop has no heat to speak of – board&batten walls on a cement floor – a damp cement floor – I’m definitely making chili today – hot, HOT chili!
This day makes me think of many 19thc Dutch landscape paintings; beautiful, grey and quiet. And, reminds me of many same-vintage Dutch interior scenes; velvety black interiors lit by candle light or a solitary shaft of day penetrating blown glass panes. From the Left, a clear band crosses a tile floor to illuminate a single idea. Some of the paintings Van Gogh did of shoes and so forth – even “Potato Eaters” have similar qualities – an artistic inheritance also seen in his brushwork.
“Hands” (secondary title: “In Prayer”) 1995 is a monotype I did a while back when teaching at Bradley University (Peoria IL) It’s part of my own collection and holds significance for me – a reflection of a part of my own odd journey.
Hawaii / Alaska
We were told the next day that a 4.2 earthquake had happened during the night. “Go up to the caldera tonight – should be some activity”, our host said. We did. Watching the daylight fade and the lava light grow was amazing – especially when it was dark enough to see the red glow pulse – like a heartbeat – only deeper and longer between events. In the chilly Sulpherous air, a young Park Ranger played wonderful Ukulele tunes – making the experience rather complete. Standing there reminded me of a friend in Alaska, overwhelmed by a huge Aurora Borealis he was privileged to witness – a crown of color that took him by surprise, alone in the cold wilderness. We can’t forget these things – they are moments perched on an edge, moments of transformation.This work does not illustrate either of these events, but perhaps may represent the heat and cold, and sense of explosive power.
Been to Hawaii?
We finally took a vacation in nearly 10 years. Hawaii is a fascinating place, geographically, historically and spiritually. Though it was a rainy season, it was warm and embracing. The winter rain acting more like kisses than frigid stings. We traveled all around the island in a big circle, spending time in Hilo, Volcanic park, Inn at the Falls and finally Kona. Moving through so many climate zones is such close proximity was amazing and surreal, as were the buckles, folds and caves of lava, rainforest trees and desert shrubs. Standing at the most southern point in the U.S. and looking toward the visual edge of the earth toward 2500 miles of ocean, I understand why so many feel free and outside of the “no-fly” zone.
Though this work is based on the San Juan Islands, WA, - it still fits,
yes.
Climate Change
“Shifting Flow” 18″ x 24″ Monotype. A visual story about a journey- “my kayak, slides through it into a beautiful place full of snow and ice where a shifting glacier is barely seen, receding. My spine feels the cold, deep water, 1/4 inch from my body. They know I am here. Bus-sized creatures glide silently under – and I, in a swaddling of thin synthetic layers – under which I am utterly naked”. 
Everything In Motion
This little Monotype was done with three plates; Yellow, Magenta and Cyan. The subject is a train station with people moving through space, time and light. Have you ever watched the film, “Chronos”? 
New Monotype
“Between Layers” began as a response to “Pool” and continues to explore the idea of architecture as environment – and the aesthetic of creating spaces that provide opportunities for expression. Reflecting pools have always been important, visually extending space, light and form, both vertically and horizontally. This is essential to some cultures and particularly integral to garden-structure relationships, which embrace more of the whole human experience.
"Between Layers" 18" x 24" Monotype
OK, What is a MONOTYPE? It’s a one-of-a-kind print. Unlike most other forms of printmaking; intaglio, linocut, lithography, serigraph, and more, monotypes have no matrix. In my case, I roll a thin veil of oil-based ink onto the surface of a sheet of plastic and wipe away the areas I want to remain open – then I print onto a sheet of 100%rag paper. For these color landscapes, I may have as many as 12 layers of ink in order to overlap veils of warm and cool hues to create a sense of depth and luminescence.
All of the marks are made with brayers (rollers) not brushes. My self-assignment is to mess around with the perception of edge and to limit my ability to finely control the media. WHY?
Next blog.
Where We Meet
Thank you for your responses – primarily through emails not posted here – I am asked often if there is a spiritual underpinning to these works – to which I would say, yes. Landscape speaks volumes. At a certain time in the forming of an American identity, artists like Asher Durand (b.1796) and his friend Thomas Cole spent many summers in the Catskills, Adirondacks and the White Mountains of New Hampshire - eventually creating the Hudson River School, a truly American center of thought and expression. Durand, like other Hudson River colleagues, believed that nature was the direct expression of God. In his “Letters On Landscape Painting”, he wrote, “…the true province of landscape art is the representation of the work of God in the visible creation . . .” As a Christian and environmentalist, I do not see any division between an appreciation for creation and care for creation – other than degree. Being there is a start - 
Born to an Arch…
Born to an Architect and Environmentalist, there is something about the landscape of architecture and architecture in landscape that intrigues me. This includes the inner landscape. There is something deeply born in humanity to shape, solve, survey and sculpt potential of any sort be it physical, environmental, familial or psychological. People talk a lot about webs, connections and thinking outside of the box – WHAT BOX? I don’t know any artists contained within a set of 90-degree thoughts. PYLONS, (and other works) explores human history as a series of support structures long forgotten, having once served a vital purpose but now a broken, overgrown part of the visual and physical scape – transformed by time, marking memories for those who still remember – beautiful in it’s own way.
