Renewal: Snakes, 113 x 15 x 1" detail oil on canvas, moves the viewers eye from the twisted snake eating a smaller reptile to the running, playing,  digging, swimming and running with tires that at times mirror or connect with the snakes flowing through the composition. The snake characteristics celebrated by Chinese zodiac mythology is renewal, intelligence and awareness. As I am painting gleeful children I am also aware the many are living in areas the will experience the adverse affects of global climate change than most living in the United States.   

Renewal: Snakes, 113 x 15 x 1" detail oil on canvas, moves the viewers eye from the twisted snake eating a smaller reptile to the running, playing,  digging, swimming and running with tires that at times mirror or connect with the snakes flowing through the composition. The snake characteristics celebrated by Chinese zodiac mythology is renewal, intelligence and awareness. As I am painting gleeful children I am also aware the many are living in areas the will experience the adverse affects of global climate change than most living in the United States.  I have chosen to use this long horizontal format because it lends itself to reading a line from a book. I wish to viewer to become engaged in their movement and theit varied environments as they negotiate and avoid dangers.  

Mindfulness : Snakes 15.5 x 115.5 x 1", oil on canvas, 2025   began with my watching my two year old grandson carefully collect, move and pour water. He was extremely mindful of his activity. He was not only studying water but also was extremely aware of his precise movements. 

The story unfolds, the environment of leaves, vines and branches transform into snakes. The surface of the canvas become dense with energetic brush strokes and at nearly center is the snake about to strike. These are the snakes' characteristics: awareness, caution, transformation and striking when the time is right. As the year progresses summer turns to fall and the child grows ever more aware of his expanding environment. The leaves turn and fall, light angles sharply and the child becomes and blended with shadow and light. He gazes up. 

"Mindfulness:Snakes" 15.5 x 115.5 x 1", oil on canvas, 2025, "Mindfulness:Snakes" began with my watching my two year old grandson carefully collect, move and pour water. He was extremely mindful of he activity. He was not only studying water but also was extremely aware of his precise movements. 

The story unfolds, the environment of leaves, vines and branches transform into snakes. The surface of the canvas become dense with energetic brush strokes and at nearly center is the snake about to strike. These are the snakes' characteristics: awareness, caution, transformation and striking when the time is right. As the year progresses summer turns to fall and the child grows ever more aware of his expanding environment. The leaves turn and fall, light angles sharply and the child becomes and blended with shadow and light. He gazes up. 

This detail of Approaching The Dragon's Edge, 115 x 15.5 x 1", oil on canvas,2025 focuses on my grandson newly learnt sport, fishing. Of course, in his imagination the Rockfish is huge and he pulls it in. Also seen are the claws of one dragon and a bit of its face. Henry's enthusiasm for all sports: baseball, fishing, rock climbing and scooting is placed within the context of the Chinese Year of the Dragon. Good fortune is associated with the Chinese Dragon and it is his good fortunes to be able to jump, leap, climb, pitch, fish and slide. 

Approaching the Dragon's Edge  115 x 15.5 x 1", oil on canvas,2025 is inspired by my grandson, Henry's enthusiasm for all sports: baseball, fishing, rock climbing and scooting, I placed him within the context of the Chinese Year of the Dragon. Good fortune is associated with the Chinese Dragon and it is his good fortunes to be able to jump, leap, climb, pitch, fish and slide. 

Yet overshadowing his enthusiasm is my feeling that these moments are fleeting. He and all children are racing toward a time when our world will suffer more frequent climate catastrophes. And so, my dragons are ambivalent creatures. Their expressions are comical, their claws and teeth are sharp. There is no benign environment enfolding this boy as he slides and slips toward awaiting jaws.

Leaping With Dragons and Minnows,detail of 113.5 inch wide by 15.5 inch high oil on canvas. The  focus is on the riotous colors reflecting the barely contain energy of the leaping girl. She does a handstand upon a purple dragon's scales, and her movement is up and down, back flips and cartwheels with twirls of continuous momentum through lotus stems, flowers and surprised fish.  

Leaping With Dragons and Minnows, 15.5 x 113.5 x 1", oil on canvas, 2024. The narrative can be read from the right or the left. We follow the girl as she swims, leaps, flips, and does handstands in an imaginary dragon sea filled with swirling dragons, floating lotus and silver minnows swimming throughout her movement journey.

detail: "Skating and Dancing With Dragons", oil on canvas, 15.38" x 113.38" 2024Inspired by my granddaughter, Charlotte’s  enthusiasm for skateboarding and with the Chinese Year of the Dragon as a thematic backdrop, I created this work to celebrate the joy of movement, all children’s enthusiasm for dare devilry whether skating, or hulu hoop dancing. Chinese mythology envisions dragons as a symbol representing good fortune. Unlike the western dragon, Chinese Dragons are seen as benevolent and powerful mythological creatures  

I envision Charlotte’s undulating motion as akin to the progress and regression we make in our efforts to stem the tide of global climate change.  These dragons painted with lush colors of orange and blue hues have sharp claws and teeth which, express my anxiety about my grandchildren’s future. The serpentine dragon bodies are undulating masses of dynamic energy. Charlotte both flows with dragons’ energy and is swamped by it. 

 "Skating and Dancing With Dragons", oil on canvas, 15.38" x 113.38" 2024Here we see the entire width of this narrative painting. “Read” it from left to right or right to left. We see the girl on her skateboard at the precipice of the dragon bowl, she slides, glides, dips and spins. Suddenly there are other children dancing with hula hops enjoying their movement freely spinning and whirling. Dragons, some whimsical others frightening also twists and turn with their scales and tails, claws and gaping mouths. 

Our Epoch's Autumn, Persephone from Dawn to Dusk, Dusk (approximately 84 x 40", ink, watercolor, acrylic on Japanese paper mounted on silk, 2023) Presented as an off the circular scroll that rotates from dawn to dusk and again. (see the video)The enigmatic goddess of the Underworld, Persephone, blends in with the mighty tree and roots. Splash ink brush strokes of branches and roots overpower the sleeping woman and her sitting child.  Our Epoch's Autumn: Persephone Dawn To Dusk pictures Persephone as one with the autumnal environment, cyclically awaiting her return to the underworld.  The viewer watches the scene revolve, noting the quick rotations of day to night, and to day again.  Persephone is part of nature's cycle. Her story is entwined with themes of darkness and rebirth. 

Our Epoch's Autumn, Persephone from Dawn to Dusk is shown moving  with a slow rhythm from dawn to dusk. The camera zooms in on Persephone sleeping a child at her feet. The ascending branches and leaves and descending roots place her as a human mote in the whole. 

Artemis - Protector of Life side a & b, (video show painting moving) each approximately 84 x 40, is an off the wall scroll with two fully realized paintings glued together. Originally influenced by Oriental scroll paintings, I have modified this presentation so that this double-sided scroll bridges the boundary between painting and sculpture. Suspended by an archer's wood bow the double sided scroll moves with the slightest breeze and is affected by ever changing light. Side A, imagines Artemis as the archetypal strong Greek goddess. In the background is Artemis' symbol, a mother brown bear, ancestor of today's imperiled polar bears. Artemis aims her bow at Exxon, a company that has obfuscated the truth about global climate change for decades, even though their own scientist's models accurately predicted serious global climate outcomes due to carbon gasses.Side B images contemporary time. The worst emitters of methane gas are labeled within a glowing globe. Young Artemis points her bow at them. The ground she stands upon is melting, just like the Arctic's permafrost. Lower still is an underlying oil refinery, which is spewing the gasses destroying our beautiful Earth. 

Artemis, Slayer of Methane Monsters, Protector of Life the video provide an up close view of both sides of this kinetic scroll bridges. The Off the wall scroll bridges painting and sculpture.  One side: archetypal Artemis, bear-mother, bow drawn toward corporate obfuscation. The other: a contemporary girl aiming at today's methane emitters. Light, breeze and time alter the image-a reminder that vigilance must be continuous.

Artemis Takes Aim, 38x25" framed (45.5 x 30.5) Chinese ink, watercolor on Japanese Kozo paper, '22. This ink brush painting refers to an ancient depiction of Artemis as mother polar bear and her cubs walk on imperiled, melting ice floes. The brown bear, the goddes Artemis' symbol infuses the background. 

Our Mother's Repose - Persephone & Kali (76 x 80", oil on canvas, 2023).

Here are two unlikely goddess companions: the Hindu Kali and the ancient Greek goddess, Persephone. Kali embodies the untamed essence of womanhood, representing a profound archetype of feminine creation and destruction.

Persephone evolves into an enigmatic goddess of the Underworld. She emerges as a symbol of resilience, transformation, and the cyclical nature of life.

As autumn ebbs Persephone’s reprieve from Hades’ world of death and shadow ends. Lurking amongst harvested wheat sheaves and abundant golden leaves is Kali. She is furious, her outstretched legs and upraised arms encompass the supine man, Persephone, and the oblivious children. Created here is a pivotal moment in time. Winter is certain but will destruction prevail?

Persephone's Break Out (30 x 22 x 1.5", oil on linen, 2023) envisions Persephone's break out from the confines of a dark space.

 Lalla was an oppressed 14th century Kashmir poet.  Stories are told that she danced and sang her way to enlightenment. I learned about her from Maj Ragain's poem, which begins with these words: 

The poet Lalla left her husband
to wander fourteenth century Kashmir,
singing, clapping her hands,
dancing on her heels.
Lalla, her name spells ‘darling.’
In bad weather, she was naked.
She lived in her soul.
She wanted paradise.
What husband could give her that.

Dogen tells me the mountains are walking.
They are at rest and they are walking.
If I do not understand how the mountains walk,
I do not yet understand my own walking....

From Ragain, Maj. “Burley One Dark Sucker Fired:Collected Poems”, Working Lives Series, Bottom Dog Press. Huron, Ohio. 1998
p. 59

Epic Wrestlers - Ariadne 63 x 127 x 3", oil on canvas, 2009 The representation of Ariadne's internal struggle for self-discovery and individuation is illustrated as two women wrestling along the 127 inch horizontal plane. Their strained moves mirror the pull and push of internal anguish: recrimination, anger, relinquishment and resolution. The Ariadne pictured here is not a passive victim but a powerful archetype, reminding viewers of the multifaceted nature of femininity. Through rich textures of their hair, facial and muscular expressions and with vibrant hues, the female archetype’s emotional journey illustrate the highs and lows, the moments of despair, and the triumphs of self-discovery.The labyrinth, once a symbol of entrapment, transforms into a metaphor for self-exploration and the intricate paths women tread in their pursuit of identity and agency.

 Epic Wrestlers, 63 x 127 x 3" oil on canvas, here Jessica Damen narrates the story of Ariadne, this mythological woman who wrestles with conflicting feelings. Her struggles express inner strength.

Leda and the Angry Swan, (72 x 102 x 3", oil on canvas, 2003) begins with the sordid story of Leda’s raped by Zeus. The myth describes a typical patriarchal story. Zeus is attracted to Leda’s beauty, the god “can’t help himself”and he disguises himself as a swan so that Hera, his goddess wife, does not notice his infidelity.  Leda's story is generally told as one of violation and victimhood but my Leda defies this traditional visualization. In my painting, the swan's shadow, once a symbol of coercion, is replaced by Leda's unwavering gaze, reflecting her determination and empowerment.

With textured paint and a vivid palette I create a mythic space where Leda's agency shines brightly. Leda is not silenced. Leda is overtaken but, the painting’s focus on Leda and her strength is powerfully expressed through brushstrokes and dramatic color. Her strong woman spirit is evident. Where ever the viewer stands her eye, the window into her soul follows the viewer.

During my decade long re-envisioning of this myth, I first dispel the notice that the god/swan was a beautiful and/or desired creature. Instead, he is a monster bird, full of possessive rage and weaponized talons. As the series progresses, I imagine Leda’s psychological progression, her surprise and denial, her defiance and vengeful wishes. Finally there is a spiritual uplifting and her dance outshines the god/swan.  https://visionsversesvoices.com/Whats-This-Prequel-Leda-and-the-Angry-Swan

She Walked Away in Her Mind (22 x 30", Chinese ink, watercolor on Archer paper, 2010), understands the defense mechanism of disassociation.  Leda is traumatized and her only defense is to image she is walking away. The ink is heavy and the world is indifferent to her plight. 

To hear the poem click here; https://visionsversesvoices.com/Whats-This-Prequel-Leda-and-the-Angry-Swan

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (62 x 34", oil on canvas 2003) are lines from an old bedtime prayer. I remember reciting it when I was a child. The skewed perspective reflects a child’s fear that the sky is falling through the skylight. The environment is filled with Christian and contemporary imagery. Goya’s witches cackle and sharks swim in the fish bowl. The pained Madonna glances toward the sleeping child. My friend and collaborating poet, Maj Ragain wrote “A Dreamer Sails into the Land of Nod” in response to this painting. I am most grateful for his insightful verse. "Sleep is a small death, the child Rebekah a fish suspended in a deep, shadowed pool..."  https://visionsversesvoices.com/Now-I-Lay-Me-Down-To-Sleep 

Jo, Jon Floating on Jonah's Whale (38 x 60", oil on canvas, 2003 & 2014), was first painted the early summer 2003 while Maj and I did a short residency at the Fine Arts Work Center.  He saw me struggling with the lower right corner close to the whale eye. Often he just sat and observed while I painted. Oddly, I did not feel self-conscious. I told him that the painting was inspired by a photo of my two children taking an afternoon nap. But, of course, the story is so much more. I frequently return to my paintings when I want to improve an area. In 2014, I reworked Jon's hand and arm. Ragain's responsive poem is "Contents of the Whale’s Belly, Grounded Off Race Point, Provincetown, Cape Cod, June 2003" https://visionsversesvoices.com/Jo-Jon-Floating-on-Jonah-s-Whale

58 x 50", oil on canvas, 2000

The painting is nostalgic unease. These girls are not happy, the title, “Say Cheese” is an ironic mention. Maj Ragain’s response poem, “What the Dead Remember” takes a darker turn. He imagines the girl with no name. She is dead and forgotten. The suburban idyllic atmosphere is pierced with a dose of mortal reality. Can the listeners of the poem hear the dissonance between the saccharin colors and foreboding message? https://visionsversesvoices.com/Say-Cheese

My youngest daughter modeled for My Private Garden (62 x 28", oil on canvas, 2000) one cool early autumn day. Her posture and form were as perfect as the korai she was asked to mimic. Yet, she retained her individuality and the strength of a modern girl. While painting her from the photographs taken that day, I envisioned her bathing suit, as a shield, protecting her from the volcanic eruption of emotions that I knew would erupt in a few years. She was transitioning from the impish baby (compliments of Van Gogh) to a girl on the cusp of adolescence. Hear the poem read here: https://visionsversesvoices.com/My-Private-Garden

My Two Selves 60 x 28", oil on canvas, 2000 

The model's pose refers to ancient Greek kouros. It addresses the frequently ambivalent identity of male youths caught between their most elemental needs for security, love and tenderness, and their fear of being labeled effeminate. American youths are not encouraged to live with balance and beauty and therefore my kouros are clothed. Their sexual nature may be conflicted during adolescence. I represented the conflict with of the one model painted as two figures, one with his pectoral muscles strong and sure, the palette knife sweeping across his chest. The other molded with a more tentative blade, his glance reticent and his colors softer and more muted.

Hear the poem read here: https://visionsversesvoices.com/My-Two-Selves

Who Are You? Children was in its early stage before September 11, 2001. After that attack the motif changed. I questioned my and our collective shock from the attack. The children were in an idyllic environment they remain oblivious to the thundering herd of buffalo about to overrun them. The innocent child is now slightly diabolical and is holding a smoking gun. Her play doll is discarded. The painting was sold in 2004 and was never recorded. I link to the full text. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8k1gy37kfrro4rdliucas/3_TheAncientOnesattheTrailsEnd_Who-Are-You.doc?cloud_editor=word&dl=0&rlkey=s7iw68mzqdtl0md5km740daty

Sleep time is seldom without some anxiety for children. This painting recalls my fears of things playing in the walls. Maj Ragain’s ekphrastic poem is “The Blue Eye Blinks Once Every Hundred Years.” Behind the stately girl with a bird cage the walls are alive with many creatures from dynastic and pre-dynastic Egyptian iconography. Here follows the last few lines of his verse:    She calls to the sunflower canary prisoner/to the hostage child, new wings fingering her shoulders,
I know the way across the darkness. Follow me to the underworld. Trust and follow.

The full poem follows:  https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/m124ujcjz1yt9ytd3ga1j/10_The-Blue-Eye-Blinks-Once-Every-Hundred-Years_Between.doc?cloud_editor=word&dl=0&rlkey=dwj9mom1ww1pl0s4x7xsttx91

All Fall Down, Maj's ekphrastic poem to Reaching For Eden capture the children's whimsical nature and the environment filled with potential danger. Here is the concluding stanza : Come play with the red dog Pox./Hide where God can’t find you./I will give you new words:/night, sorrow, death/They will taste like candy.

What's This? Prequel, 60 x 79 x 2", oil on linen is my response to Maj Ragain's ekphrastic poem, Leda's Voice Under Sky, Over Water. The poem in its totality, empathizes with Leda’s loss of self and safety. But I was bothered by his first two lines, "I lie in the wreckage of my longing/ which called him down to me... 

What longing and what calling is he referring to? Is it a longing for a divine presence?Or, the longing for sexual pleasure?  Those lines disturbed me because they seemed to imply that Leda is complicit. I did not ask for clarification but years later I decided to create a response to those first two lines of Maj's powerful poem.  “What’s This?”  continues a dialogue with his verse. The painting re-envisions the moment before her violation. There is a breeze from his wings, a shadow is cast and she is perplexed. She has an ancient scissors in her hands, Why not? The painting is also for cathartic release. Hear 

Leda's Voice Under Sky, Over Water here: https://visionsversesvoices.com/Whats-This-Prequel-Leda-and-the-Angry-Swan

Artemis Rising 2022,  81 x 12" O/L, is inspired by Paula Meehan’s poem, “Solace of Artemis”. It can be viewed as if you were studying a Chinese scroll. It slowly reveals the narrative while your eye moves from one space to another. "I read that every polar bear alive has mitochondrial DNA from a common mother, an Irish brown bear who once roved out across the last ice age, and I am comforted." My mythological paintings are comforting and also thoughtful. This painting is in a private collection. A reading of the poem is linked

 https://visionsversesvoices.com/Artemis-Rising

This painting, Strawberry Wreckage & Lilac Dust was inspired by Janet Lewis' "Girl Help". Lewis describes the sweeping girl's pause, "In the warm, lofted air, Soft lips together pressed, Soft wispy hair, she stops to rest. .... The great white lilac bloom /Scented with days to come." This is a suspended moment when all is present and eternal. The strawberries, red and succulent, represent a fallen, wounded heart that will be swept up with the debris. Link her to hear "Girl Help" 

https://visionsversesvoices.com/Strawberry-Wreckage-Lilac-Dust

12 x 12", oil on panel, 2016 

Maj saw my painting and it immediately reminded him of his poem, "A Luminous Phenomenon". My painting imagines Maj as a Taoist fisherman, a speck in the universe, under the Northern Lights. After a doctors visit where "She knows I am waist deep in muddy water." Maj remembers the awe he felt under the Northern Lights as he faces his diminishing health. Link here to hear:

https://visionsversesvoices.com/A-Fisherman-s-Aurora-Borealis

Seeking and Running 2019 81 x 12 x 1", oil on canvas

This painting refers to Tim Joyce's poem, "Small Boy With Stick Going After a Wolf." I was drawn to this poem's imagery because of the futility of his chase. A wolf chases its prey and here is the child's hubris. The suckling babe helpless and dependent for comfort, safety is also a reference to Remus and Romulus myth. Link here to hear https://visionsversesvoices.com/Seeking-and-Running

Quick River in a Green Time 2002 50 x 74.5 x 3" oil on canvas

The painting is a response to Maj Ragain’s poem, “For My Daughter Meg, Graduating From Kent Roosevelt High School” Link here to hear : https://visionsversesvoices.com/A-Quick-River-in-a-Green-Time

Part response to Maj’s poem and part response to Boticelli’s the Three Graces, I play with the idea of adolescent transition as a time filled with perilous creatures, fast white water rafting and a transition from sport clad graceful girl to green sinewy girl to a come hither venus on top a scallop shell. 

This small painting  was inspired by Maj's poem https://visionsversesvoices.com/Little-Sister. "She covered her small breasts/with her hands.
She pleaded for something I couldn’t hear.  /This is the voice /I have been listening for, all these years./It is the voice his poem wants to speak with.
How to make a mouth under the Dragon’s Blood.” Maj and I both yearned to speak under the Dragon's Blood (that plant covering graves).

My preferred method is paint.

Lacing Life & Death (82 x 13", oil on linen, 2015)  was inspired by Lewis’ “Meadow Turf”. My young son was an adventurous boy, who perilously climbed every obstacle and yet, always seemed rooted to the ground. I see his radiant smile as he is betwixt heaven and earth and I am reminded of Lewis’ last lines, “Oh, heart, here is your healing, here among / The fragrant living and dead.” Link here to hear: https://visionsversesvoices.com/Lacing-Life-and-Death

Wishful Vow, 18 x 46", oil on linen, 2014 

Janet Lewis' poem "Winter Garden" inspired this fantastic landscape and a child's perilous walk along an unsecured plank. Lewis recalls a child in a beautiful garden with calendulas, pomegranate tree and twisted vines. Then, like so many fairy princesses, she pricks her finger, but is not cursed. Instead Lewis makes a vow, "Now that you sleep your joy to replenish, Each branch, each varied lifting bough, That not a leaf in your garden perish." It is a “Wishful Vow”. Hear Winter Garden here: https://visionsversesvoices.com/Wishful-Vow

East of the Sun, West of the Moon, 2014, 14 x 30 x 1" oil on canvas is inspired by Janet Lewis poems, The Indians in the Woods, & The Wife of Manibozho Sings. Her poems set in the woods impressed with reserved focus on the simple plants, the barely visible trace of a step. The panoramic perspective places the child to the periphery of the canvas. She is part of the whole of nature. 

https://visionsversesvoices.com/East-of-the-Sun-West-of-the-Moon

I Am Here, 2015, 37 x 27 x 1", oil on linen . The painting is based upon a photo from the late 40's. I was intrigued by the girls self assurance. Her presence fills the picture field. In contrast is her father. It is hard to read his expression that being another enigmatic aspect of the photograph. I used this image as a starting point to respond to another Maj Ragain poem Let The Dolphin Dance: A note to my daughter Megan Maj often wrote his daughter verse and ended many meandering reflections with a benediction for her : Meg, may the light play around you /eight hundred miles to the west. /May this day bless, teach and protect you. I was not sure that the father pictured in my painting was thinking of a benediction.

From- Ragain, Maj, A Hungry Ghost Surrenders His Tacklebox. Pavement Saw Press, Ohio, 2006 pp.137-139 

Nibbling, 48 x 86" oil on canvas, '06 in Nibbling the two youths are the alter egos for the little doll girl that feels that she lost face and her self-identity. Pictured here are two intimates, a digital camera in the girl’s hand. They have photographed each other and their intimacy is mediated by their focus upon the camera’s viewfinder.   Like a contemporary Narcissus they have fallen in love with the camera’s reflected image.  Will they be frozen for eternity with their self-gaze or will their eyes meet and see the other as another?

Alluring:Narcissus & No Face Doll series, 32 x 71" oil on canvas '06 & '13 Two youths are relaxed with their legs entwined, they look at a digital camera screen. A fox drapes one and he/she wears a laurel wreath. Maybe the youth is Apollo, as there is a lute in the corner.

Captivating, Narcissus & No Face Doll series, 48 x 62", oil on canvas, '06 Of the three large paintings in this series this one is the most menacing. The No Face doll is nearly disintegrated and the girl’s expression, in shades of grey, has a startled gaze. The splayed boy in the space between the girl and the satyr is exposed and still confident. This satyr is between lecherous and violent. He wears a “wife beater” undershirt, his right fist is ready to hit the viewer, whereas his upper fist is cut off, leaving it to the imagination of the viewer where his hand lands. Is he ready to fight off rivals? Is he considering hitting the girl. His menacing posture dramatically contrasts with the little figurines in background. They tell a different sexual story.

The two 2015 companion paintings, oil on linen, 17.5 x 38" are responses to Ragain's "An Old Man Lies Down With the Lion" It is a story of transformation. The last verse, "Thou shall lie down with the lion. Thou shall be reborn as an old man." I imagined a boy, embarrassed, everyone is glaring at him. Perhaps he missed the big catch or struck out. He is humiliated and alone. That boy becomes an old man, he imagines comforting another boy or catching that hit. What parent, aunt or uncle has not seen a sports game and felt the bitter disappointment of a player who lost the game for the team? To hear the poem click

https://visionsversesvoices.com/Boyhood-Coat-of-Mail-Reborn-Old-Man

The Earth Falls Away 

(81 x 12", oil on canvas, 2017) is a portrait of a girl forgetting the earth. She is groundless, imagining herself in another time and place. Swirling around her are forms, formulas and other fun mysteries. Lewis' "The Reader" also describes a lost reader, where the "Sun creeps under the eaves,... While he forgets the earth." Time passes." And all so still.. But "A creature fresh from birth Clings to the screen door. Heaving damp heavy wings." In timeliness, there is birth and death. Read and hear the poem,  https://visionsversesvoices.com/Earth-Falls-Away

This painting painting was created after a visit to a friend who had lent to me many photos of her early life. One photograph struck me as unusual. The father and daughter’s positioning is distant. The cast shadows which, cover the father, also cloaks him in mystery.  I feel estrangement between the two even though she is just an infant. I imagine the two “facing off.” Are they seeing each other or is there a confrontation brewing? Maybe they are just playing? The owl is flying out of the painting field. A nocturnal hunter, symbol of wisdom is coming out of the hidden depths of the painting field, startling the viewer and heightening the ambiguity of the image.
                    

Worker Ants 2016, 12 x 12 x 1" oil on panel. This small painting is a response to Maj's poem The Clouds Pile Up North. Maj spent hours fishing along a lake. Because he was almost immobile from childhood polio he sat around and children flocked to him. He recounts a story of a lazy summer afternoon. He teaches the children with fable. Some respond but others are angry and express it. My years as a mother and a pediatric nurse reminds me that when children kill living things, it is because they feel "Killed off". Then, is not the time to try to teach them. I have sympathy for the angry child. See, listen here:  https://visionsversesvoices.com/Worker-Ants-The-Demise-of-Benny-the-Brave

Benny the Brave is a companion piece to Worker Ants and both respond to Maj Ragain's poem The Clouds Pile Up North https://visionsversesvoices.com/Worker-Ants-The-Demise-of-Benny-the-Brave  Again, I feel sympathy for the angry boy who kills Benny the Brave and who is now comforted. 

Spring Ashenputtel 2015, 35 x 45 x 1" oil on linen, refers to the more commonly known fairy tale, Cinderella. The original Grimm's version is a terrifying story of a girl's survival after betrayal and abandonment. The spring blossoms enriches is an ironic statement.

Our Mother's Repose - Persephone & Kali (76 x 80", oil on canvas, 2023).

Here are two unlikely goddess companions: the Hindu Kali and the ancient Greek goddess, Persephone. Kali embodies the untamed essence of womanhood, representing a profound archetype of feminine creation and destruction.

Persephone evolves into an enigmatic goddess of the Underworld. She emerges as a symbol of resilience, transformation, and the cyclical nature of life.

As autumn ebbs Persephone’s reprieve from Hades’ world of death and shadow ends. Lurking amongst harvested wheat sheaves and abundant golden leaves is Kali. She is furious, her outstretched legs and upraised arms encompass the supine man, Persephone, and the oblivious children. Created here is a pivotal moment in time. Winter is certain but will destruction prevail?

Whole With Light (81 x 12", oil on linen, 2019) is my response painting to Maj Ragain's commemorative painting "For My Mother Beatrice Summers on Her 90th Birthday". It is a lovely, soft pastel type of verse equating his mother with late blooming roses. The autumn moon is at the base of the sliver canvas, the broken colors gradually become nearly unified at the top of the painting. The roses are textured and make a continuous thread through the whole painting. The light from Beatrice's spirit gradually lightens. Hear readings here: https://visionsversesvoices.com/Whole-With-Light

60 x 30", oil on canvas, 2000

Originally four-year old Adriana was photographed naked, holding a towel after shedding a sandy, wet bathing suit. Since the day lily represents the immortality of a child’s day, she holds it. Adriana is that sweet child frozen in time. The child herself has a different concept of time. “Who shall say if the day was too brief, For the flower, if time lack? Had it not, like the children, all Time In their long, immortal day? Ibid, p. 77

67 x 84", oil on canvas, 2007 

I found an old Kodachrome color family photograph. My family is all dressed up for an Easter Day Portrait. The photo portrayed that perfect 1960 family: strong dad, adorable daughters dressed in pastels and a beautiful mom. But this painting is not a copy of the original. Instead, I saw something else: a stilted man, a girl with a snarly smile  and another girl in a transparent dress with a gleeful smile. The mother's face is skull like in her Easter bonnet. She is almost a monster pushing out children like so many decorated Easter eggs. This painting brings forth references from art history and prevailing cultural myths, as well as, a cynicism toward such myths.

"Who Opened the Window" places Picasso’s depiction of libidinal and aggressive energies within the context of a family gathering. Here the grotesque double is an intruder at the dinner table and the bacchanal feast is integral to the family’s posturing.

Gifts (44 x 72", oil on linen, 2000)- Three generations are pictured here. In the foreground two sisters have just opened a Christmas gift. The one girl gazes at an unknown sight and her eyes mirror the doll’s. Their mother is the recorder of this still moment in what could have been a frenzied morning. In the sunlit hallway is a blurred painting. Look closely you will see another Christmas morning pictured.

2021, “Green Moon of Great Mother Bay” & “Green Night of Great Mother Bay” are two paintings that recognize the mother nature of the Chesapeake Bay. It is a nursery of so much life for centuries. Now it is degraded and exploited. Dr. Michael Salcman writes, "Not too many think of her now, in the old Indian way—say Susquehanna slowly and what you hear is Mother of the Bay/ she comes with poison today/ gathered from coalfields, blooming algae/ in silt and debris, trapping oyster and crab, in nitrate and shale/ drowning life in life." Hear Dr. Salcman's reading: https://visionsversesvoices.com/Green-Night-of-Great-Mother-Bay

Pachamama, Great Mountain Mother '13 & '07, 100" x 38.5 x 1.5" oil on linen pays homage to my mother and every mother.  Mountain Mamma  or Pachamama describes the oversized importance of mamma. She is the mountain source of comfort and, or pain.  The mother’s face is radiant, and the children, although not embraced by her arms are within the embracing folds of her transparent skirt, much like The Christian Madonna.The two children are two aspects of temperament, shy, worried, clinging and the other more robust, angry ready to punch. The girl on the right is based upon a photo of myself from an Easter Sunday picture. My mother’s photo was a candid shot that showed only the top of her face. Nevertheless she seemed to strike a pose with ease. 

Pachamama is a goddess revered by the indigenous peoples of the Andes. In Inca mythology she is an "Earth Mother" type goddess,[1] and a fertility goddess who presides over planting and harvesting, embodies the mountains, and causes earthquakes. She is also an ever-present and independent deity who has her own creative power to sustain life on this earth.

“Strange Guests” 2007, 70 x 62" x 1" oil on linen integrates one of Picasso’s bacchanal prints and two of his early 20th century somber women. I wove into this narrative my own family: The bright smiling woman, the young girl sticking out her tongue and the thinking man. They are all characters in a family drama of contrasts. The oil painting presents a picture of complementarities in color, line and form. The Minotaur, the projection of human’s dual nature but even the fearsome creature is a bit of a comic creature. He should not be taken too seriously. 

In Granny's Garden is Running Away (81 x 12", oil on canvas, 2017), the long thin format is a sliver of form, space or time. Like the arctic ice tube samples, my slivers tell a deep, ancient story. I am also influenced by ancient Chinese landscapes, portraying time as moving rhythmically toward heaven. This painting was inspired by Lewis’s poem, "Lost Garden." "Children asleep in deep meadows. Young popples Grew round the house and a wasp nest hung in the door, silvery like logs..... Granny Cadotte, Granny Cadotte,Your garden is running away." The garden running away is a perfect metaphor for the end of child rearing, the very fast passage of time. Hear the poem here: https://visionsversesvoices.com/Granny-Granny-Your-Garden-Is-Running-Away

God's Oldest Child- White Oak,( 2017, 81" x 12" x 1" oil on canvas ) is a sliver of form, space or time. The format reminds me of arctic ice tube samples that reveal geological facts.  These sliver paintings reach into the past and reveal a sliver of truth. Chinese landscapes also come into play encouraging the reader to move through space as if riding a wave.  God's Oldest Child- White Oak was inspired by Lewis’s poem, “White Oak.” “I grow forever in one place, yet stir abroad, Flinging my small hard leaves upon the air, Forever stirring in the air yet not Forsaking this one spot…. An image of Him in my constancy, An eldest child of God, the white oak tree.”

Gather, Fizz, Fizz, Gather, 2018, 81 x 12 x 1.5" oil on canvas imagines the oneness of universal elements and the individual. We are star dust. 

"My mother is dissolving like Alka-Seltzer" begins Maj Ragain's inspiring poem “Kamikazi, That Divine Wind”
I painted effervescent washes and splashed drips and a disguised  Kamikaze plane that is ready to nose dive into Beatrice's head. Soon she dissolves into carbon fizz floating toward Crab Nebula. The poem continues /The carbon in these chains that /bind flesh to spirit was
born in that hot galactic heart/ that could no longer contain itself./ The big fizz is still expanding. /My mother’s life is now a small bang, a hushed dissolution," 

Sorrow and Fury 2013, 50 x 68 x 1.5" oil on linen,  recognizes the complex and dramatic storytelling of the Australian aborigines, specifically the people of Uluru, formerly known as Ayer's Rock. The rock, a geological remnant of an ancient mountain range has deep gorges, scares and caves. All of these natural formations have a story associated with them from the Uluru's Dreamtime. What I most recall from the guides storytelling was the deep respect they expressed for the desert, what westerners may say is barely more than barren land. He recounted a story of two types of snakes, venomous and non-venomous, each with unique personalities. One mother snake loses her eggs and she seeks revenge. The magnificence of the landscape and the Dreamland stories are unlike any I have ever known. 

Bottlenecked oil on canvas, 27x54",'21 shows a fiery sky, a sunset or dawn distorted by pollutants. The sailor and his boat are squeezed in by the Bay’s silted river. The sail is luffing, too close to the wind for propulsion. The propulsion of Global Climate is not unstoppable. A sign of hope is renewed oyster beds, which were once enormous and purified the Bay’s water. Dr. Michael Salcman's poem, "Mother of the Bay" inspired this painting. Hear his reading here; https://visionsversesvoices.com/Green-Night-of-Great-Mother-Bay

Lost Songs As Night Approaches, 54x27,OC, 2021 is inspired by Meehan's "Death of a Field".  "The field itself is lost the morning it becomes a site..."The memory of the field is lost with the loss of its herbs". First scent gone and then "...the memory of the field disappears with its flora: Who can know the yearning of yarrow", "the end of hidey holes /Where first smokes, first tokes, first gropes, /Were had to the scentless mayweed." It is a sad long list of lost birds, plants, abundant and playful place.

My approach with this naturescape was first to imply the myriad species lost through development and provide a glimpse of the human loss as well. The poet, like myself, grieves for these losses. 

Leaping Into Eel's Death Colors (81 x 12", oil on canvas, 2017) is a response to Maj Ragain's introduction to "Home to the Sargasso Sea." “Every writer finds a new entrance into the Mystery”. An entrance into my painting was found while contemplating Maj's remembrance; a farm's well is getting cleaned and then an eel is felt and a terrified man begs to be lifted. The eel miraculously journeyed from Sargasso Sea to an Illinois farm. The boy witnesses, "The body of the eel still thrashes and churns in the ocean of memory, then dances like a hanged man at the end of a rope. A life hardly contained by its form. A living beauty like nothing I’d ever seen. Her death colors came from a place deeper than the well. The (farm's) well is still there, open all the way to the Sargasso. In the darkness, something turns." Ragain, Maj. "Clouds Pile Up in the North: New & Selected Poems. Press 53, Winston-Salem, 2017. p xiv

No Memorials for This Lot (2018 81x12"x 1" oil on canvas) Tim Joyce's poignant poem equates a row of once brilliant, but now, dying row of Sunflowers to forgotten veterans. The poem is a chilling reminder of the long shadow of war upon men. There are "No memorials for this lot"...nothing to do but wait for further orders ....their bowed, ruined grandeur awaits the axe of frost.." Hear the poem here: https://visionsversesvoices.com/No-Memorials-for-This-Lot

Be Secret & Exult (88 x 36 x 3", oil on canvas, 2021 & 2004) was reworked from my 2003 version. It is a painting inspired by a Ragain poem of the same title. This heavily impasto artwork took a lot of strength to do. I loaded my palette knife with thick oil paint varied in tone and hue and then used my entire body moving strokes to make pectoral muscles, strained gluts and calf muscles. The climber's nearly impossible finger and toe holds suspended over turbulent currents was the image of death defying strength. Pictured is my son. He is an accomplished rock climber. Nevertheless, I needed to find a way to manage my anxiety about him doing this sport. While painting I concentrated on his strength, his acute awareness and his calm demeanor.  Hubris or courage, the painting confronts know and unknown dangers - my fear for my son's possible death. As I processed this painting I realized my son accomplished a feat. He is intimately aware with the rocks he climbs and his body movements.  He is, as one with his "wall" as is, humanely possible.

BP Wave (2010, 12 x 12 x 1" oil on panel). Naturescapes are turning ugly and violent due to global climate change. BP's horrific oil gusher lasted 87 days and it caused deaths to workmen and incalculable damage to marine ecosystems. The children are about to be swamped with disgusting oil. This small painting packs a big punch. The three children are watching a monstrous wave of oily goo as it approaches. It is ugly, as disgusting as the destruction of our beautiful Gulf.

Jesus Jockey Riding Through the Primordial Poison, 2016, 12 x 12 x 1" oil on panel, tell a story; hidden deep under the surface of a chalk formation in Alabama is a ".... a lake, a toxic waste site./....that pool of bone eating doomsday toothpaste.... seethes in a great black pit/ lined with layer after layer of Hefty bags./ The plastic pool liner is expected/ to last no more than thirty years./The procedure is called limited containment." (Maj Ragain)  

We and all creatures have been living with and suffering by the procedure called "limited containment." But it will all come home to "roast" soon. While I celebrate landscapes that are still beautiful, I am always mindful that those landscapes are fleeting 

Hear Ragain's poem here: https://visionsversesvoices.com/Jesus-Jockey-Through-Primordial-Poison

Honied Oblivious Ones: Artemis Rising (2021 60x 31 x 1.5"(framed) watercolor, Chinese ink on Hsuan paper) inspired by Paula Meeghan's verse Solace of Artemis and after finishing my oil Artemis Rising I wished to develop more imagery surrounding Artemis symbols and the concept of the honeycombs continuity. "I read that every polar bear alive has mitochondrial DNA/ from a common mother, an Irish brown bear who once/roved out across the last ice age, and I am comforted." There are no brown bears in Ireland. Still they survived in the Polar Bear's mitochondrial. I take comfort in knowing that great climatic changes have occurred before, just as the brown bear became a polar bear, there will be a continuity of genetic memory. The bee's wax hexagons are doomed but still, there is a vision of hope in Meehan's poem. Artemis is both aggressor and protector. That is the spirit we need to combat the economic and political forces slowing change.  Meanwhile, let’s keep our sweet "honied" ones oblivious and protected.  

Who Can Number the Grasses Lost: Death of a Field 2021, 55 x 27.5", Watercolor, ink on Hsuan paper . Inspired by Paula Meehan's poem, Death of a Field I was moved because I saw so many fields plowed over while I lived in Montgomery County. She begins her verse with: "The end of the field as we know it is the start of the estate/ The site to be planted with houses each two-or three-bedroom/ Nest of sorrow and chemical, cargo of joy." I remember the fun of running through grass. There were no meadows near Little Neck, NY  and so when I read "Who amongst us is able to number the end of grasses/ To number the losses of each seeding head?' I have previously never given much thought to seeding heads. This is a lovely painting with a dollop of regret. 

 Paul Meehan, Painting Rain, “Death of a Field”, Wake Forest University Press, Winston-Salem, NC. 2009, pp13-14

What's This V, (25x19, ink/wc/mulberry paper, 2016)  has a lighter brush and the swan’s movement is freer. Leda’s expression is unique with each version.

What's This III, (20.5x17, ink/wc/paper, 2016 ) is an ink brush painting on Hsuan paper. It is part of a series developed after I completed the oil, “What’s This?” My use of Chinese ink and brush encourages free association and spontaneity.  Each painting reveals a different expressions. Here the swan is overpowering her. The strokes are dark and determined. She looks perplexed.

Leda Dancing I, 30 x 22", ink,watercolor on paper, 2012 expresses the resilient spirit of Leda. She has found strength through dancing and her finger lifts above the beak of the swan. She is joyous and triumphant.

Who's Talking Bull I, 2009, 25 x 30 x 1.5 (with frame), ink watercolor on Hsuan paper is part of a series of four ink brush paintings. It is inspired by a re-imagined Ariadne. In the distance is Theseus’ ship. She is uninhibited in her nakedness with her girlfriends, the symbol of the Minotaur, the half man/bull beast lurks in the deepest shadows of the painting. Each ink painting imagines her friend with a different expression: she is startled, angry, perplexed and alarmed. There is strength with sisterhood. 
 

Here's Looking At You Kid, II 2007, Framed 43 x 25 x 1.5", Chinese ink on Hsuan paper is part of a series of nine ink brush drawings that began as an homage to mothers and also evolved into a commentary about facades and posing. In 2011 accepted into accepted into Gender Matters / Matters of Gender, Freedman Gallery, Albright College, Reading, PA. Juror: Judith Tennenbaum, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Museum of Art, RISD

Remember Myself, 22 x 30" ink and watercolor on paper 2010 Maj Ragain's poem, Leda's Voice, Under Sky Over Water recognizes that after rape one is never the same. Leda is gone and can only remember her former self. "I remember myself before Zeus settled over me, in the guise of a swan, downy chest against my nipples. That world is gone." Hear the poem here; https://visionsversesvoices.com/Whats-This-Prequel-Leda-and-the-Angry-Swan

Smash It Baby: Baby Boy Soldier #5 2005 21 x 17" Chinese ink on Hsuan paper is part of series of six which I did after finishing "Dolce et Decorum est" the oil painting completed in response to the second Iraq war started by President Bush in 2004. I was moved by the faces of the boys who were pretending to be soldiers. The expressiveness of the ink allowed by mind and emotions to wander.

Spastic Holding: Holding Baby Valentine, 2005, 30 x 22", Chinese ink, watercolor on paper. Before I was born there was another sister, Cindy who had cerebral palsy (CP). I found this photo of my oldest sister hold Cindy with great difficulty. I thought Barbara, my older sister must have been so discouraged, maybe even a little annoyed, that the baby could not stop her spastic movements. 

Installation of a "Record of Baby's Days, multiple media and found object, Dadian Gallery, 2000, The viewer can see the paintings of photographs found in the yellowed envelop, with Cynthia written on top. Inside was a treasure trove of Brownie snapshots including pictures of my father and mother at Cynthia christening, pictures of her with her older sister, and more formal ones with my mother, my older sister and Cynthia. The use of recently dried grasses as well as the black drape material with text from the "Record of Baby's Days' memory book, I believed created a mood of discovery and also grief. 

Record of Baby's Days, multiple media and found object, Dadian Gallery, 2000

Suburban Mother 1999, 30 x 22 x 1" oil on panel, My mother and baby Cindy's portrait. Reviewing the snapshots of her early life helped me to contextualize the deep sorrow she tried to hide during her life. 

Installation of a "Record of Baby's Days, multiple media and found object, Panoramic view of Dadian Gallery, 2000

The attic like atmosphere of the installation was framed by "cosmic"scapes above.

Installation of a "Record of Baby's Days, multiple media and found object, Dadian Gallery, 2000. The cascading black and white photos that ending in an old worn truck mirrored repetitive memories that will not leave one alone, even if buried in a truck. 

Record of Baby's Days, baby doll and reflection, multiple media and found object, Dadian Gallery, 2000

Dry leaves almost obscure the forgotten baby doll, the doll is  reflected and repeated through out the installation,

Pearl Reflection, 1998, 30 x 22 x 1" oil on wood panel, In the foreground my mother is holding her bluish baby( Cindy suffered severe lack of oxygen to her brain due to an unnecessary  intervention.) Her older sister is sucking on pearls. When I saw this photo I was drawn to the image of my youngest daugher finding jewelry in a cabinet. She is pictured in the background exploring in a old cabinet holding something in her hand. The past is never dead. 

Her Holding Onto, 1997, 47 x 34 x 1.5 (framed), Charcoal, conte crayon on paper. This painting was also in the installation. The painting points to the optimism of my parents, a young couple, ready to start a family after the devastation of the Second World War. There was so little housing available for new families that my father, with help from his brothers built their own home. I felt that my mother was holding onto his building. 

His Building, 1997, 47 x 34 x 1.5 (framed), Charcoal, conte crayon on paper. This painting was also in the installation. The painting points to the optimism of my parents, a young couple, ready to start a family after the devastation of the Second World War. There was so little housing available for new families that my father, with help from his brothers built their own home. I felt that my mother was holding onto his building. 

Roll Over, Roll Over and then One Was Left, 1997, 59 x 51 x 1.5" (framed) oil on primed paper. This was a breakthrough painting for me. While reviewing all the photos I noticed that my older sister seemed more self confident, naturally happy in the earlier photographs. As time went on, her posture became stiffer, she would stand straight as a ramrod. It was as if she was holding a great burden. In the black "open book" background is an imagined diary entry, "she took mommy away from me. I wish she were dead" Who knows what went through her mind during those sad years. Preschoolers can believe that their thoughts cause actions.