Coyne Creek Road in the Flint Hills of Kansas.

Soft, hazy mornings fill the air with soothing soft blues.

The Konza Prairie from the scenic view overlook on a winter afternoon.

This photo was taken on the hills of the Konza Prairie in the early morning after the sun had risen, there was a lot of thick fog all around the landscape, highlighted by the sun.

Coffee break on back patio of Dewey ranch house. Konza Prairie

An awe-inspiring stormy sky inspires a sense of foreboding as the backdrop of this rural wheat field and lone country road. Vivid colors of grays and dark blues provide sharp contrast to the golden tones of the wheatfields in this 24” square gallery wrapped oil painting.

A view of native prairie grass Hairy Grama on a December late afternoon.

A bull bison is the undisputed King of the Prairie and unafraid to look you in the eye.

An Eastern Kingbird finds a safe perch after a summer thunderstorm has passed through the prairie landscape.

laser cut mat board on mat board

laser cut mat board on mat board

Oil on paper

I came across this peaceful prairie scene in the northern end of the Flint Hills, home to the last remaining large area of tall grass prairie in the world. This area had recently been burned off and was a beautiful, vibrant green. At this time of year the prairie is so vibrant and full of new growth and energy...it was a real pleasure to spend a quiet evening at this location.

Light and shadows weaving across the prairie help showcase the lines and textures of the Flint Hills.

Sunset photo of people at the Symphony in the Flint Hills

Fall 2019

Prairie burns are part of agriculture and culture, in the Kansas Flint Hills.

Prairie burns are part of agriculture and culture, in the Kansas Flint Hills.

Buffalo grazing the prairie

Burning the Flinthills

Original watercolor on Strathmore MultiMedia Board

Original watercolor on Strathmore MultiMedia Board

Original watercolor on Strathmore MultiMedia Board

Impressionistic-styled, abstract painting: Prairie green landscape and blue sky with one prominent white cloud during wind storm.

B/W Photograph sepia toned- Feed road into wide open spaces. Printed on Fiber paper. Chase County KS

Canvas Print

Grasshopper collection, identification, and pinning technique is a favorite autumn science activity of the Konza Environmental Education Program. The grasses are tall in the fall, and sometimes the grasshoppers really seem big!

watercolor on 140# coldpress paper - inspired by a cloudy day on the prairies - the overcast almost blotted out the sun and made the shadows obscure the grass in places

Abstract painting

This ceramic plate is made with porcelain clay and painted with underglazes, with a clear glaze on top. The painted image depicts a Bison in prairie grasses, and a Prairie Falcon. I wanted to create something that expressed the majestic, and peaceful feeling that I get from the prairie. The plate is fairly light which makes it nice to use as a functional piece, or as decorative art.

This is a painting I did from a photo that I took when a friend of mine and I drove through the Flint Hills at dusk, and the fields were ablaze. It was a spectacular sight.

digital photography of details of selected carvings at Mushroom Rock State Park, printed 1/1 on wood and leather bound into a radial book

laser cut vellum and tissue paper, cut block print, Xerox transfers, and colored pencil on archival mat board

laser cut paper, adhesive mask, vellum and colored pencil on archival mat board

A flashlight beam gently glides through this harmonious paradox of dead grass on the prairie and water in the sky. Photograph printed on aluminum

Winter on the snow covered rolling hills of the Konza Prairie

A small group of bison grazing near the road in the Konza Prairie preserve

Big Bluestem stands tall on the August prairie. Konza Prairie.

Heavy snow falls as bison transit thru the gate in the gallery forest. Konza Prairie.

Lines of fire give way to heat distortion. Prescribed burning, Konza Prairie.

Golden glow of Indian Grass in early October. K1B watershed, Konza Prairie.

A large group of ruby throated hummingbirds migrating through Kansas late one September. I saw them high in a cottonwood going after a few trumpet vine blossoms that had climbed the trunk. It was an amazing sight I'll never forget...there were dozens of hummers!

Custom framed B&W print Chase County State Fishing Lake, Chase County, Kansas

Prairie floor, Konza, during autumn walk

Loose impressionistic view off the flints?

Pastel of fabulous Kansas state flower had to be captured in a painting. The field was almost empty.

View of Kansas Prairie from the overlook south of Manhatten KS. Gallery wrapped canvas.

Spring Storm Clouds over Flint Hills Open Range.

Pioneers stretched through the Flint Hills of Kansas to find a piece of property to Homestead.

This fabric collage incorporates the green hills of the prairie with the clouds that bring refreshing rain in due season to water the grassland below.

Little Bluestem in the Fall. Image is 7 x 5 on 12 x 9 paper

Little Bluestem in the Fall. Image is 7 x 5 on 12 x 9 paper

Little Bluestem in the Fall. Image is 7 x 5 on 12 x 9 paper

Little Bluestem in the Fall. Image is 7 x 5 on 12 x 9 paper

So, you know how I'm naming this year's sky/landscapes after women? Allow me to create a "mini-series" inside this theme with voluptuous Kansas Flint Hills - because they are sexy valleys. My first piece is finished and dedicated to and named REBECCA. Because some women, when they walk in a room, you just say to yourself, "dang, she's still got it!"

A bison standing in the snow, painted on watercolor paper and then transposed to metal, wire back.

Late afternoon in the Flint Hills in Wabaunsee County.

Fall in the Flint Hills. I loved the shadows in the foreground, the gently rolling sunlit hills in the background and the lovely country road leading you into the scene.

Sunrise on the Flint Hills with wheat field in the foreground

Historic Lower Fox Creek Schoolhouse on the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, KS. Image is mounted on 1/8" foam board and able to be hung with adhesive velcro strips or framed.

Zooming in on this photo from the Scenic Overlook of the Flint HIlls, I realized that there were also three bees, in addition to the Giant Swallowtail enjoying the thistle nectar.

Fleabane its name, but beauty's its game.

The fires of controlled burns in the Flint Hills are often dramatic, but never more so than when fire and smoke backlight a stand of trees and are reflected in nearby streams.

Dawn brings an intriguing play of light and shadow across a hillside in northern Greenwood County.

Acrylic on board

Oil on panel, "plein air" painting from a prairie sunset

Oil on panel painted on location on a late winter prairie sundown.

Oil on panel, "plein air" painting from a prairie sunset

Wildflowers in the Flinthills of Kansas Impression

Early light slithers down the hills as the sun slowly rises.

Matted, framed

Matted, framed

Springtime on Texaco Hill after the burn. Archival paper print, unframed. This print is available in 2 more sizes: 16" x 24" -- $315 30" x 40" -- $745

This Infrared image taken south east of Manhattan, a short distance off I-70. It will be a framed print on canvas.

From a photo taken on a hazy late summer afternoon in the Flint Hills, painted loosely in oils

Whispers of clouds float across the Flint Hills of Kansas.

IMG_8901 Prairie Flowers. I grew up in south central Kansas but have lived in the Kansas City area for many years. As a child, I remember the first time driving through the Flint Hills and being amazed at how hilly it was in Kansas! I still enjoy traveling back ‘home’ through the Flint Hills on the Kansas Turnpike. When the scenic overlook opened at the Bazaar Cattle Pens, I was grateful to finally get to stop and enjoy the expansive views of the prairie. I love to photograph the wildflowers and the weathered fences at the cattle pens. After a short break from driving, I can finish my journey. There’s no place like home!

West of Cottonwood 2020

West of Cottonwood Falls 2020

West of Cottonwood Falls 2020

Dickcissel - Prismacolor Colored Pencil - Drawing will be signed upon purchase

Lark Sparrow - Prismacolor Colored Pencil - Drawing will be signed upon purchase

Oil on masonite plein air painting of native wild sunflowers growing roadside at the Flint Hills Nature Trail, eastern side.

Papier mache, fabric, and cedar driftwood.

Coyne Creek Road, near Flying W Ranch in the Flint Hills

There is so much depth in the blue stained glass that makes this heron. This stained glass mosaic is in a custom weathered wood frame

Perseid meteor falling over the old Marble Hill School near Strong City, KS. Shot in August of 2020

1800"s Porcelain Ceramic School Sculpture fired to cone 6, on driftwood base attached to deer shed footing, with Flint Hills cotton wood tree and ceramic bird.

A towering thundercloud just passed, catching the last golden rays of the sun. The cows on the prairie ridge below, as always, generally unmoved.

Gouche and graphite on paper.

Clouds casting shadows over the plains on a summer's day.

Handwoven Tapestry. Wool and cotton weft, cotton warp. This piece is done using the Soumak technique. It is woven into the tapestry, not a surface embellishment.

Handwoven Tapestry. Wool weft, cotton warp. This piece is done using the Soumak technique. It is woven into the tapestry, not a surface embellishment.

Kiln-formed glass manipultated at high temperatures to create the background glass. Casted glass transparent sunflowers, butterflies, bee and ladybug installed with stand-offs on brushed stainless steel.

This piece was inspired by the Flint Hills Fires on the prairies. Wooden cradle provided the sub straight for this encaustic and oil painting of the burns. The prairie burns encourage native plant growth.

This photo was taken in the Flint Hills of Kansas as the sunset

Bright Blue Sky w low Clouds

Sunny with Distant Hills

A herd of mustangs races down a valley on a Flint Hills ranch.

Hanji (Korean mulberry paper), etching ink, hanji thread Color field study using 45 (approx. 2' x 3') sheets of hanji paper joomchied (water felted) together to create a single paper piece about 4 x 14’ - incorporates printed work using polymer plates into process. Now creating larger scale fiber works from hanji, , I consider the invitation of the horizon and nexus where cultural understandings of spaces came into collision, particularly in the 19th century, and not unlike the 21st century, as extraction industries endanger environments and life in balance along these westward routes – the lure of Quivira persists.

Hanji (Korean mulberry paper), abaca and linen thread Hanji quilt piece embroidered with hundreds of crosses - a meditation on moving through darkness literal and figural, into the West, of being turned around 180 journeying past the 100th Meridian.

Hanji (Korean mulberry paper), etching ink, linen thread Polymer plate images from the N page of a cursive journal from the 19th century on stitch topographic map of area in the Flint Hills inhabited by bison.

From Tallgrass Sampler Series, solarplate print on muslin of a bison impression on prairie with 28 letter Ns in an embroidered grid array. The piece, North, a solarplate print of a bison impression on simple muslin, evokes seeking understanding from natural markmaking to provide direction and orientation and suggests the experience of dislocation and isolation and also sometimes freedom that was experienced in that landscape by women. The Tallgrass Sampler Series considers the experience of women learning basic needlework skills as part of a domestic work education that provided skills for running a family household – here incorporated with images from a last standing tallgrass environment, and where a Western landscape is juxtaposed linguistically with the repetitive and ritualistic act of learning letters.

Flint Hills range south of Cottonwood, KS

This is a soft pastel painting on a treated surface underpainting. It was conceived through life studies of the local prairie weed including within Jerry Smith Park.

Painted from plein air study near V Rd, Flint Hills, KS, June 2018

This piece references the prehistoric inland sea (which is now Kansas), and the subsequent changes to it's fossilized seabed through water and chemical erosion. I call this sculpture a "Font", which implies the sacred nature of of the land from which it came. Even though the form is reminiscent of the old bathtubs of previous centuries, this piece also hints at a rocky prairie eco-system that is multi-layered and self-cleansing. Material: Carved and laminated marble.

This receptacle is a natural assumption. When needed, for all living forms, that inhabit the tallgrass prairie, humans included. Material used is a native Kansas lymestone.

Utilizing hand-cut steel with enameled copper I create rolling hills within Wabaunsee County bringing back the Bison, Mustang and Longhorn Steer heritage.

The comet NEOWISE from the Top of the World above Manhattan

The Milky Way behind the Shane Creek windmill on the Konza Research Prairie.

Konza bison walking in the snow in the bisoin area.

Storm clouds over mist filled hills of Kansas.

This is an original printed photograph on Rives BFK paper, developed using Van Dyke Brown alternative photo processing.

This is an original printed photograph on handmade abaca paper, developed using palladium printing alternative photo processing.

This is an original printed photograph on Rives BFK paper, developed using palladium printing alternative photo processing.

This is an original printed photograph on Rives BFK, developed using Van Dyke Brown alternative photo processing.

graphite, watercolor, char & cold wax

watercolor, char & encaustic

watercolor, char, collage & encaustic

watercolor, collage, char & encaustic

The allure of the flint hills is captured in its history and rolling landscape. Hidden secrets in its creeks and draws beckon the 'heading west' adventurer. This oil painted on a board is a tribute to both history and beauty.

Bison are synonymous with the Flint Hills; I have taken numerous photos of them on various trips to the Flint Hills over the years.

THIS IS A HONEY BEE HEADING TOWARD THIS HUGE SUNFLOWER ON A SUNNY DAY MOUNTED IN A SIMPLY ORNATE BROWN ANTIQUE FRAME

shown unframed framed for display in blonde hardwood (bleached ash) price is for framed

shown unframed framed for display in blonde hardwood (bleached ash) price is for framed

shown unframed framed for display in blonde hardwood (bleached ash) price is for framed

Clouds drift over mid-summer fields

shown unframed framed for display in blonde hardwood (bleached ash) price is for framed

Old schoolhouse on the hill in Chase county, KS printed on stretched canvas.

It had been some years since I had reason to drive the back roads in the Flint Hills north of Manhattan, KS ( Pottawatomie Co, KS). Some personal business gave me the need to spend some hours up there, affording me the time to explore and shoot photos. I came across this panoramic view that was just stunning. For my painting I imagined it as it might look at dawn as the hills awakened to the morning light . Gallery Wrapped Painting

Grasses Blowing in Flint Hills, KS

Modified Flint Hills landscape

Modified Flint Hills landscape

Flint Hills Landscape

Sunflowers on a stormy evening looking for sun.

Collage of landscape fragments

Watershed SUB at the Konza Prairie Biological Station gets burned in the summer as part of an experiment to determine plant response to seasonal fires. This view is of the watershed in December.

Rain nourishes the flint hills south of Manhattan, KS in this stitched panorama of five drone images.

The sun sinks slowly over the Flint Hills of Kansas.

Grasses catch the evening light east of Manhattan.

A bison bull gives me full eye contact - December 2019 - Konza Prairie

Sunset in the flint hills near Manhattan.