Instructions for Living a Life:

 

Pay attention.

Be astonished. 

Tell about it. 

 

                         -Mary Oliver

 

Really, that’s all there is. Look for and experience joy. Paint or draw or write about that. Sing and dance. Also, it’s all about love. Love for this world we inhabit, and of course, for ourselves in it. I encourage you to share that love in whatever medium calls to you, because you will overflow with joy, and in sharing that joy, you will bring it to others. And we all need a little joy. Also, laughs. Laughs are good.

 

I’m a mostly self-trained artist working in ink, watercolor, colored pencil, and markers. I have taken two entirely butt-kicking classes in botanical illustration from the New York Botanical Garden’s continuing education program. I have taken workshops with local artists Mike Henderson (graphite), Andrea Allen (Chinese brush painting in sumi ink), and Bea Acosta (basketweaving). 

 

I am continually bowled over by the micro and macro world of The Sea Ranch, where I live, from the smallest mushrooms and lichen peeking out of a downed redwood log, to the constantly changing land and seascape, and all our native plants, birds, and other wildlife that quietly and not so quietly go on about their business, in spite of us.

 

I am also a grant writer for nonprofit organizations, a sometimes creative writer, and a graphic designer. Wanting to highlight and support local and regional artists, I launched a new magazine this year about rural California art and artists, called Mark Makers’ Quarterly. 

 

Come visit me. I’d like to meet you.