The truth about beauty is,  that it glows from within and shines out through the eyes.  In the piece on the left “Being Both Soft And Strong Is A Combination That Few Have Mastered” her hypnotic stare gives her confidence  and her nature away in an instant.  We can feel her approachability, her desire, and her strength in her own  self worth.It is my hope that you, as the viewer, have this conversation when you approach this canvas.  I love adding elements of nature in each of my Garden Girl paintings, as it is the quintessential symbol of the feminine.  Flowers, delicate feminine colors are beginning to emerge from this collection, which is from a long line of images about women, about my own story of being a woman.  As I grow in my balance, these paintings grow in their ability to exude balance.

“She Was Poetry In A World That Was Still Learning The Alphabet”   The women in this collection become more complex and simpler to understand through my approach to the canvas.  As an artist, I want to develop and explore my uniqueness as both a woman and a painter.  I love playing with layers of paper, color, paint, texture, yet still maintain the essence of what the collection is about.  I have begun to explore and express through abstract playfulness on the canvas before I ever introduce the figure.  It has opened up a whole new world of, not only discovery in my painting, but also self discovery.  When I look at the work I begin, to more clearly understand the my thoughts, my nature, my complexities.  Being an artist is truly self examination at its utmost.

“She Had A Gypsy Soul And A Vibrant Hope For The Unknown” is the beginning of my shift in the approach to the canvas in the How Does Your Garden Grow Collection.  The design elements, collage, and the color combinations have begun to infiltrate her, creating a sense of being part of the whole of nature. I almost always add my collage elements in a rectangular nature, which I think is a masculine element of the design.  The leaves and flowers and delicate colors are the feminine elements.  This is an unconscious approach, but is clearly present as I step back and view it.  It is such an ah ha moment to watch the shift and development in the new work just as in myself.