A lull in creativity

 When I worked for the art supply company years ago, the spring was always slow for sales. Rather than sitting inside and making art, people were outside, gardening, hiking. This time around, the same has been true for me. I've been spending a lot of time outside instead of with a pen and paint brush.

There have been a couple of small paintings I've done in the past couple of month, but along with the lure of being in the fresh air, my sense of creativity has shifted to the yard in my new home that has been quite dull and without color for many years. Slowly I am pruning, pulling and planting new life into this almost 10,000 square foot lot.

In the 6 months I have lived in my new home, there have been all sorts of animals I did not have in suburbia. I have had to come to make peace with garter snakes in my yard, for example, this spring. We also have cute little bunnies everywhere that love to eat new plants, so I will gearing my planting to accommodate them. We even had a bobcat walk behind our steel fence not too long ago, which was the talk of the neighborhood I live in. Coyotes, bald eagles, deer, and even a bear have been sighted in this eastern edge of the Portland Metro area.

The area I live in is a little dry, so one creature I have not seen are frogs. This one below is gouache, and is from a photo my son took and posted on social media. I'm hoping to see one of these around my property!

This painting was one I had started as one style, but then reverted it to something more realistic. The simple rooster was a fun one to also paint in gouache. Initially it had a more wild and eclectic color palette, and I was going to incorporate sunflowers. My husband fell in love with it before I got to that point, and encouraged me to keep the background white. He loves this painting, so it now sits on our fireplace.

Now that the summer heat is setting in, I might be indoors more with that paintbrush in my hand. I am working on a new ink and watercolor piece featuring some of the forest's residents, hopefully coming soon!

Willamette Valley Wonder

 

This is not a new painting, but a refresh of an existing one. I love how I got lost in capturing the light and shadows of the evening relaxing with a glass of Pinot Noir. Willamette Valley Oregon has some of the best wines, and Pinot Noir is a major wine produced here. I originally painted this in March of 2016 at St Josef Winery with a friend during one of those "Wine and Canvas" classes as I was just beginning to explore my passion with painting. This one was done in acrylics originally, and the re-do is also in acrylics. 

Below is the original version.

I debated about re-doing this painting just to have physical evidence of my first works. For years this painting as it was above sat in my kitchen displayed, and I couldn't stop looking at what I could change on it as I have grown more confident in my painting. So, the next best thing is to take a photo of it and document, which is part of the point of this post. 

This is an acrylic on 16X20 canvas.

Bliss

 

During the dark days of winter, I kept thinking of colorful flowers that would be blooming in the coming months in my tiny backyard. Roses, lilac, camellias, columbines, irises, tulips, delphiniums, violets, lilies, hydrangeas, and so many others would pop up in the spring and summer.

Then in January, we had a sudden opportunity to move and eventually sell the house I called home for 12 years. The new home has twice as much land space, but barren of flowers except for rhododendrons and fuchsias. Leaving my beloved tiny garden was harder than I expected because so many spring and summer days I would just beam at the colors popping everywhere. 

So this painting is called Bliss because that's what flowers bring for me. This is the first spring in several years where I am not tending to an established garden, but planning a new one where I can bring my past experience and mistakes to make it even more glorious than my previous garden. And it will be Blissful.

This is a watercolor and ink on paper measuring 9X12.

The Polar Bear

 The polar bear is a solitary animal. She cares for her cubs, but don't get in her way. I started this painting about the same time my mom was diagnosed with late stage cancer. She had a small collection of teddy bears that she collected in the 80's and 90's that were sitting on the oak shelves in her home. She was much like a bear in personality; solitary, a protective mother, and don't you dare cross her.

She passed away on the full moon, November 4th, 2025. I finished this painting, but my grief was heavy on my ability to focus. I don't feel this is one of my better works, and that's okay. When I look at it, I will always recall the dark days of grief of losing my mother. 

Rest in peace mom.

Surreal series - House of Dreams

About twenty years ago, I kept having a recurring dream/nightmare that involved a home I bought which had a very evil feeling. It was a three story Victorian with a basement, and the dream always was portrayed in the dark. The basement felt safest, yet empty. The attic felt the scariest. This dream came to me at least 10 times over the course of about a year. Then one day, I stopped having them.

While this painting doesn't represent that dream, the house reminds me of the one in the dream. Eyes watching you, darkness surrounds the house, and it's a multi-story home. Unlike the one in my dream, I painted this one with cheerful colors of pink, teal and gold. I did not have a detailed plan for this piece. Other than the shape of the house, all of the whimsical details were spontaneous and were not in the dream. 

The dreams we have at night are a pretty special place to be, I do believe they are another realm of reality to embrace, even if they are scary. 

The Pygmy Owl

The desert can be barren, harsh, and even deadly. Yet somehow life finds a way to thrive there, and when it does, it can be colorful.

These 6" owls nest in the Saguaro cacti in the Sonoran desert of North America. This is the Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy Owl and is now listed as threatened per the Endangered Species Act. If you're lucky to spot them, it most likely will be at dawn or dusk. Numbering in the 100's in Arizona, habitat loss is the major contributor to their decline. 

Painted with M. Graham watercolors and Daniel Smith Luminescent watercolors on 10 X 12 canvas board. 

The Sierra Nevada Red Fox

The Sierra Nevada Red Fox is a small fox species dwelling in the mountains of California, is susceptible to drought and wildfire, and less than 50 remain in the wild. It is on the Endangered Species list currently. They are nocturnal animals, and little is known about this particular species. 

I am very concerned about the Endangered Species Act currently with the swift and massive changes within our US Government. My intent in this post is to not only capture the beauty of these animals, but to amplify the importance of protecting them and their habitat. We have the responsibility to preserve and protect them in their natural environments from climate change and human over utilization of their domain. I have made it no secret of my love for wildlife in this blog, and I will continue to advocate for them through my artwork and blog posts.

This is a watercolor on 10X12 canvas board.