autumn in the flint hills of Kansas

Plein air ink and watercolor painting of a monarch landing on one of the roadside coneflowers in the Flint Hills area, Kansas.

Summer Storm, Chase County Metal Print

I have been teaching art for almost two decades, including the likes of Kindergarten through 12th grade and even at the college level. My students can attest that I do not let them waste anything. I am constantly spraying down paint with water to keep it usable, picking objects off the floor and keeping articles that others might find useless. It is also common to see me digging in the trash because “I...can use this for something.” Through this, I have been collecting discarded materials that I feel could be used within my art. My artwork is built one layer at a time. Although my theme is aimed at portraying the various emotions the heart can experience; when I begin a piece, I do not have an image of what the end result might be. I incorporate what I am feeling into the materials I have found on my scavenger encounters. I had always despised the symbol of the heart. To me, it represented something that everyone knows how to draw, and a sappy feeling of love…uggghhhh!!! I thought, “Real artists don’t use hearts, or any symbols for that matter.” The year 2007, I went through an incredibly tumultuous time in my life. The result, I literally “felt” the spectrum of emotions my heart endured. This phenomenon led me to redefine what I thought the “heart” represented. My series “Junk of the Heart” represents all the junk, or emotions, that can be endured and what we choose “do” with them. The product is a metaphor for how the "junk" of our hearts can be transformed and reinvented into art.

Man's Art, the Clements Stone Arch Bridge still rests across the Art that is the Flint Hills landscape.

Felted wool with silk and embroidery

Wool felt with silk and embroidery embellishment

A quiet and peaceful dry creek bed on the Flying W Ranch that I photographed on a horseback ride inspired me to "add" the deer in the distance silhouetted against the distant Flint Hills. Gold acrylic and gel pen add sparkle and mystery to the weeds and rocks and puddle.

Planned burn around Chase State Fishing Lake

Daybreak on a crisp, frosty morning in the Flint Hills.

Remnant of the past - painstakingly and precisely constructed by ranchers long gone.

The distant stone prairie home has long ago been abandoned.

Oil on paper, framed.

Wool & Cotton with felting

Dtye on heavy wedding silk. Hand Painted.

Kansas prairie burn with pink/yellow sky

two conceptual drawings of prairie burns on stressed wooden board

Four little landscapes of the hills in different seasons and weather conditions are pinned up to show the variety of looks the Flint Hills can sport on any given day.

Oil and cold wax on cradled birch panel board

Sunset on the Tall Grass Prairie

Plen Aire painting in the Flint Hills Timber and Deer

Acrylic on canvas.

Fog softens and envelopes the prairie, giving a soft glow to the landscape. When moisture hits the prairie, all the colors change and become more intense yet softer. The softness and colors of this image wrap around the viewer like the fog on the prairie.

Utilizing ICM (intentional camera movement) with very slight upward motion, I hoped to capture the shimmering glow of the cottonwood leaves rustling on the branches in the afternoon breeze, almost giving the viewer a hint of what it sounded like.

Field swale on Pilgram Ranch near Cottonwood Falls

The prairie is a place where one can experience the 4 seasons in one day. Here we see the recently burned prairie next to unburned prairie with a thunderstorm moving in. Just past that storm we see the setting sun. All at once...