When I was a child, I believed in all of the folk mythologies: animals born from rocks and greats birds that could block out the sun. As I have gotten older my beliefs have deepened, and my imagination has grown more vivid. There are miracles in the world of nature that can be witnessed daily, and these have been the inspiration for much of my recent artwork.

Mother Nature is the embodiment of all aspects of our western and even some eastern landscapes. Her skin was formed from stone and beehive, her hair braided from oils and minerals and held together with lightning bolts of energy. She is holding a baby lynx, whose fragile existence she is here to protect. Resting on her shoulders, decorating her figure as epaulettes would decorate the shoulders of some wartime captain, are the antlers of some large ungulate, perhaps a mule deer or elk, showing her rigid strength. Clinging to her chest is the dragonfly who represents peace and wisdom. Draped from her left temple, woven into her hair, is the tail of a fox and the thorny paddles of a prickly pear cactus, symbols of her wit and her steadfastness. In her crown, woven together are a sundry mix of colorful and tactile flora and fauna; the shell of a moon snail, the feather of a peacock, the fronds of a bracken fern, and the delicate nest of a hummingbird with two eggs symbolizing prosperity and new beginnings. Her skirt, a woven textile of golds and blues, symbolizes the waxing and waning moon and the lines of the seasons. And last, her shawl and cape, strung over her shoulder, is like a giant net which has captured the night sky, and gradually relaxes down to her elbow to reveal her arm, with black raven feathers, evolving to become a wing so that she can take flight and soar over the land and rivers and sea.

She is a patient watcher but also an active protector, and her energy is barely contained within the frame as she inspires us all to take note of our wild friends and to be inspired and go gently into the natural world each day.