night vision

earth mineral plant acrylic painted organic cotton & linen collaged on wood panel

11 x14 (set in 12x15 wood floating frame)

You, Darkness by Rainer Maria Rilke (translated by David Whyte)

You darkness from which I come,


I love you more than all the fires


that fence out the world,


for the fire makes a circle


for everyone


so that no one sees you anymore.


But darkness holds it all:


the shape and the flame,


the animal and myself,


how it holds them,


all powers, all sight —

and it is possible: its great strength


is breaking into my body.


I have faith in the night

Inspiration arrives in many forms — an inner or outer landscape, a poem that shifts my perspective, words and symbols deeply felt. Wherever the muse appears, working with natural dyes, earth minerals and textiles is a joy-making process.

Sewing is my first love, but collage opened a floodgate. It offers a freedom to experiment with shape and scale that sewing doesn’t readily allow. I love both: the clean closed seam and the raw cut edge — each a metaphor for life. Moving between them keeps my creative center alive.

The collages begin with natural dyed textiles. The hand dyed fabrics are then painted with pigments and oxides I hand-blend into plant-based acrylic, creating bespoke colors. I build up multiple layers to create desired opacity and depth of color on flax linen, organic cotton and/or hemp, then hand-cut the dried forms and collage them onto wooden panels using natural adhesives. A coat of plant-based varnish finishes the work — framed and ready to hang.

note: please hang away from direct exposure to harsh light (natural/artificial) as well as direct heat source and areas of high moisture