Creatively Thinking

   Featured image:  Pine Cones A quiet reflection for this moment Today is Christmas Eve—a pause in time where anticipation and presence meet. It’s a day that holds its own kind of stillness, inviting us to slow down and notice what’s already here. A chickadee’s call in the cold air. Snow resting softly on pine branches. The glow of evening lights as darkness settles in. These small moments carry a quiet grace. Art has taught me to linger in moments like this—to see how beauty often lives in the ordinary. Christmas Eve reminds us that meaning isn’t only found in celebration, but in attention. In the kindness we offer. In the calm we allow. In the wonder that waits when we stop rushing. As this evening unfolds, may we stay present with the beauty around us. May we honor the stillness, the reflection, and the joy held gently in this night. Here’s to savoring this moment. 🎄

  Featured image: Nuthatch II Hush hush Talking, babble, song Exclaiming urgent chants Hush, hush she is here

  Featured image: Dancing with the Wind and Trees Let your soul speak. Let your life speak. Sit quietly— let the call of the wild, the wilderness in yourself, emerge. It will tenderly speak to you as you sit quietly and listen.

  Featured image:  Silence The silence—how easily, how naturally, I slip myself into its sheer pleasure. The silence, for me, is like writing a love letter to myself, slipping the letter into an envelope, tying a ribbon around it. Every once in a while, I untie that ribbon, letting all those treasured things be felt again— like the silence. Wonderful.

  Featured image: We Are What We Wonder  once again when the sun glistens thru the woods my heart is pierced once again a moment of golden light returns my sense of  wonder a line a simple  line a sphere simple golden sphere returns my sense of wonder

  Featured image: Why Do We Have Art? “The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.” -Robert Henri

Featured image: Hawk III “I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness.”
— Thoreau For as long as I can remember, my work has circled around the importance of the real, the imagined, and freedom. These ideas have shaped my life, my art, and the way I move through the world. So I’m excited to share that on January 22nd, from 4–6 PM, we’ll be celebrating the opening reception of my new exhibition at the Campanile Center for the Arts, Campanile Gallery:
131 Milwaukee Street, Minocqua, WI 54548 And… it’s also a birthday party! 🎉
Both Steve Opfer (UP FUR) and I have birthdays right next to January 22nd, so we decided to make this opening a shared celebration. It’s going to be a fun, joyful evening, and we’d love for you to join us. The exhibition features my newest work, titled:
“The Real, the Imagined, and Freedom.” I’ll be showing brand-new 3D pieces—never seen before—created with repurposed found objects, along with a selection of my 2D work (some repurposed, som...

  Featured image: She Is A Creative “Let me help you,” he said. “How?” I should ask. How do we see? How do you see? Whose eyes do we see through? Do we see on our own? I would like to think so. Or do we see through another’s eyes? When I was teaching young adults, and they would do something outside of the classroom—something incredibly stupid (yes, stupid —sorry, I can’t think of a better name for driving on a slippery patch of ice on a curve, fast, as a challenge to see if you can defy all odds)—they also thought at the same time, “Oh, but it won’t happen to me.” Well, it happened to them—and it happens to them. Their “won’t happen to me’s” run out. All of my “won’t happen to me’s” have run out, too. I try not to do those things anymore, but, well, they still happen to me. For the most part, my magic wand still works for some reason—but the magic feels different now. I seem to be, I feel to be—at least lately—visualizing almost constantly the task that has been before me prett...

  Featured image: Earth's Energy Embracing Earth,  it's a perfect expression  of harmony and balance between chaos and quiet It's the life that embraces, teaches and inspires me guides my instinct ........it has.....  always been                    my story and my way and guide.

  I’m honored to share that my work Intersections has been accepted into the 36th Annual Midwest Seasons Exhibition at the Center for the Visual Arts. This show has long celebrated the artists and landscapes of the Midwest, capturing the rhythms, beauty, and character of our changing seasons. To have my work included alongside so many talented artists is truly meaningful to me. Center for the Visual Arts Caroline S. Mark Gallery January 7 – March 14, 2026 The Midwest Seasons Exhibit is the CVA’s premiere annual show, featuring artists whose pieces reflect the spirit of Midwestern life—its colors, traditions, stories, and sense of place. All selected artworks, including Intersections , will also appear in the Midwest Seasons 2026 Calendar , a beautiful keepsake publication celebrating the exhibition. I’m grateful to be part of this year’s lineup and deeply appreciative of the CVA for the opportunity. If you’re in the area during the exhibit run, I’d love for you to stop by an...

  Featured painting:  Kaleidoscope Of Raw Reality: We Are So Small – Northern Lights “Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” -Leonardo da Vinci

  Featured image: November Chickadee Chickadees, bluejays,  doves, blackbirds,  nuthatches,  downy woodpeckers,  pileated  woodpeckers,  rose breasted  woodpeckers,  and flickers come to the feeders in the morning. The squirrels and foxes are there too -  Today,  Thanksgiving Day they all come home to for Thanksgiving. The table is filled with berries, fruits, nuts, seeds, and corn. All things natural.  all things beautiful all things yes. 

  Image: Celebrate Innovation Creativity has NEVER been sensible.

  Featured image: Roller Coaster Ride “ Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty  and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up,  totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming — WOW — What a ride! ” – Hunter S. Thompson

  Featured image: Squirrel I watched a gray squirrel jump- frogging through the backyard trees, now barren of leaves, to the other side of my backyard . The sky is blue, blue. I am sure he had no plan other than just to get to the other side of the yard. I watched until I could see him no longer and my gaze drifted back to the feeders, and the blue jays were feeding at the ground feeders. A gray squirrel came scampering down the trunk of an oak tree and scurried the jays away. I wondered if it was the same gray squirrel. I took a deep breath. And I think to myself What a Wonderful World I see skies of blue And clouds of white The bright blessed day – time to start the day. Chilly this morning.

  Featured image: Imagination The world of reality has its limits. The world of imagination is boundless. Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  Featured image: Going with the Flow II Creativity means we are focused on process and not product. Even though product is nice for process, process always—and I mean always—comes first. FIRST.

  Featured image: Playground Enthusiasm A Greek-filled word—filled with God—that is grounded in play and focused on the inner child in you. The word is pure joy. Creative work is play. It can be done in a huge sandbox with many players—and the sandbox can be anywhere. I mean anywhere. It can even be in your living room. The wonderful thing about this sandbox (yes, I have memories of one—not in the house, though) is that there was always mystery in the sandbox, and treasure, and wonder, and such joy. Enthusiasm. Creative work… it is so darn hard.

  Featured image: Hawk III As with most things, there are many ways to see and understand them; the hawk is no different. Hawks are beautiful birds—their plumage is always filled with a variety of feathers and colors: dots, stripes, reds, and browns. The hawk is known as a predatory bird because of the shape of its beak and talons, which is what I find fascinating about birds of prey. Those two features make the bird powerful, strong, and magnificent—something to contend with—which I emphasized in my work “Hawk.” The hawk has quite a history of symbolism across many cultures. Some common themes include courage, resilience, independence, and authority. They inspire humans to seize control of their destiny and rise above challenges. They are also seen as messengers from the spirit world. In some cultural stories, hawks serve as enforcers of the divine will.

  Featured image: Imagination “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” — Albert Einstein

  Featured image: Trusting Her Trust that still, small voice within you that says , “this might work,” and then try it. — Diane Mariechild

  Featured image: The Good Road “It is within my power either to serve God or not to serve Him. Serving Him, I add to my own good and the good of the whole world. Not serving Him, I forfeit my own good and deprive the world of that good which was in my power to create.” — Leo Tolstoy

Featured image:  Inukshuk - Kasba Lake God’s Spirit guides me. I asked myself, “Does God’s Spirit guide me?” In time, I found my answer. The best way I can describe it—and I am a visual speaker, so I’ll describe it with an image—is this: it’s like the light God gave to me on Goeth Island, when I was standing on what felt like the middle of nowhere on Kasba Lake. Facts about the rock on this island: Mineral-rich rock: Goeth Island is formed of granite shot through with seams of stark white quartz. This is the source of the island’s unique appearance. Glacial history: The landscape surrounding Kasba Lake, including the islands, was heavily shaped by glaciers during the last ice age, approximately 11,000 years ago. Glacial action scoured and exposed the underlying bedrock, leaving behind a dramatic and rugged landscape. Subarctic environment: Located just below the tree line in Canada’s subarctic, the northern end of Kasba Lake features barren islands and rock outcrops, con...

  Featured image: Red Flowers - Gifts From God If you have a God, what is your God like? Easy question? It wasn’t for me. God means so many different things to different folks—just ask them. Do you believe there is a “right” God and a “wrong” God? A “right” God or a “left” God? Do you believe God is subjective, as some people think art is—that God can be anything and everything you want Him to be? As most of you know, I believe art needs an objective foundation. So I believe God requires both an objective and a subjective foundation, much like art. I’ve written about this many times, exploring how God can exist yet cannot exist without abstraction. So, if you have a God—it’s certainly easier not to have one—what is your God like? Who do you believe He is? Is He a She? Is your God human? Is your God a spirit?

  Featured image: Flowing River Have you ever considered your moods, views, and insights as fleeting? Or do you think of them as engraved in blood, set in stone, never to change? I used to think of mine as carved in stone. But now—well—the way I think of history and time is changing. I think they are more transitory. When we sense movement and change, what are we sensing? We sense ourselves changing, I believe—I certainly do. For me, when I feel anxiety, I know I am uncomfortable. Something is different, and my spirit tells me something just isn’t right. The sense of grace in me says something isn’t working. My sense of grace is like a river flowing through me; it is like the wind caressing me. And when I don’t feel that, something is missing, something is changing. This feeling, for many years, has enabled me to live with a sense of spontaneity. Mind you, I need a foundation—I always have those rules engraved in my mind or heart—but I sincerely believe I am meant to move on, to cr...

  Featured image:  The Pull of Gravity The only way to move forward in the process of living and change is to build a very strong foundation.

  Featured image: Earth Sings Are you looking for your glass slippers? You don’t have to look very far— for they are within.

  Featured image: How Do I Get There Ask yourself, What is there? Then ask yourself, as you begin your day and pick up your tool of choice in your workspace or studio: What could there be?

Featured image:  Rainbows in My Studio The magical work of the soul begins with you—not someone else, not someone else’s soul. It begins with your soul. And your soul resides within you, not someone else. For me, I can only do that magical work through my art, and when I don’t, it shows—in my work and in me. My studio is where this magical work happens. My art is where this magical work happens.

  Featured image: Wandering I "Not all who wander are lost." - J.R.R. Tolkien

  Featured image: Intersections Erased Painting Gen Z Ever since I realized that if I wanted to be an artist, I needed to find a way to support my artwork, I realized that it was going to be a very, very hard job. And to add to that, to find the kind of work I needed to support—contemporary, abstract, conceptual—I don’t think I could have chosen a more difficult job on the planet. Nope. When I went off to college, my parents kept drilling into me, “You can’t major in art.” Well, I did. And just for a safety net, I took a second major, education, to support my “love” of art. Being a teacher was good. I was good at teaching. The trouble is, I was good at teaching. Back then there were no art classrooms; it was art in the trunk of my car and art on a cart, and it was hard. And many times, I was too tired to make something of my own, but I did. I did “art fairs” on the weekends. And so I supported my love, my strong need to CREATE. I WAS A CREATIVE FROM KINDERGARTEN TO THIS DAY. I have...

  Featured image: The Present The Creator’s Creation When I was teaching young adults, and they would do something outside of the classroom—something incredibly stupid (yes, stupid—sorry, I can’t think of a better word for driving on a slippery patch of ice on a curve, fast, as a challenge to see if you can defy all odds)—they always seemed to think at the same time, “Oh, but it won’t happen to me.” Well, it happened to them—and it happens to them. Their “won’t happen to me” eventually runs out. All of my own “won’t happen to me’s” have run out, too. I try not to do those things anymore, but, well, they still happen to me. For the most part, my magic wand still works for some reason—but the magic feels different now. I seem to be, I feel to be—at least lately—visualizing almost constantly the task that has been before me for most of my life. Maybe it’s because I realize more than ever that life is so, so precious—and yes, so short—and all I truly have is today. Yesterday is history...

  Featured image: The Key II Say yes and  Know you  Are not alone Gently explore Creatively expand Say maybe Look for mystery   Magic Align yourself with   Your Creator        Be intimate   With the Source   Of all things.

  Featured image: Rain Raindrops  So many raindrops Hummer’s wings beat  Throaty humming  humming  Ruby throat Jays calling Raindrops  So many raindrops I gather energy from these things To fuel me for the day. When I need some, I close my eyes, and I gather it in.

 Featured image: Celebrate Innovation Art isn’t about art, but about life and its struggle to make meaning out of everything. Art gives the artist a way to speak about their sense of reality and its ups and downs.

  Featured image:  Leaves at the Base of an Oak Tree Every once in a  while your gaze  just stops—stops in  its tracks. Something  wonderful has caught       your eye. Just stops  your gaze in its tracks.  Just stops your gaze  in its tracks. Today my eyes caught the  sunlight glowing on top of the  red oak leaves       in the woods.       They have turned… early.      The red, a beautiful       golden red,       stopped and       bathed in       God’s glory.

  Featured image: Oak Leaves II There is a small oak tree     beneath a canopy of pine branches, whose leaves have all     turned yellow. There is a small red     birdhouse hanging, abandoned for the season. Quietly, seasons pass. Time has come and     gone, never     to return.

  Featured image: Kazan River Change in our lives requires movement. This movement is like a river, a flow. A river is grace. And this grace becomes destiny. This destiny, filled with our Creator, is where our freedom truly lies. This river surrounds us with caresses of freedom. Surrender to them—for a beautiful intimacy and the yes, yes, yes to the flow of freedom in our lives.

Featured image: Different Journeys Today as I sit quietly in the garden a gentle breeze brushes through the trees rusting softly the leaves. The same gentle breeze is caressing my face softly. Freedom for me is like this breeze, is like the wind. If I can think of anything that is free – the wind comes to mind immediately. But is freedom ever as free as the wind? No. But we can get close to it through the choices we make when we create and how we choose to live. America is about freedom.  America is about independence.  America is about individualism. America is about not allowing others to do for you what you can do for yourself. So how ever did the notion of freedom become linked with not figuring things out by yourself? The notion of being an artist is all about the freedom of coming up with your own idea and your own concept. Then, creating it with the same freedom you were able to use to come up with the idea.

  Featured image: Hummingbird Late Fall 2025 Change Have you ever noticed that change never changes? Ha! I can always tell when fall has come, the hummers are no longer here.  And I can always tell when the rebirth of spring is in the air – the hummers return.  The hummers have gone from my area now, and while fall has not fully arrived, there are definitely signs of fall in the air. Fall and spring are such incredible, beautiful seasons. They can symbolize change, and the progression and transformation inherent in our experiences of life, the cycles of life.  I think change is why I like writing histories. Histories can change slowly, or they can change quickly.  Just taking one word from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: ‘luxury.’ The original definition of luxury was lechery and lust. Now the current meaning of luxury carries a far more positive connotation as it means “to grow profusely.” And if you take the “idea” of “art” well we have all gone through the ex...

  Featured image: Sowing the Seeds of Change The concept of “change” appears throughout history: people change, words change, concepts change. I have been mainly interested in how concepts change. I give two examples below; this is not meant to be all-inclusive. The Bible: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find.” Judaism: “We will do and we will hear.” The key principles reflected in these quotes are faithfulness, trust, patience, and belief. Many poets have also written about expectations and beliefs: “Expect your every need to be met, expect the answer to every problem, expect abundance on every level, expect to grow spiritually.” — Eileen Caddy “Look and you will find it – what is unsought will go undetected.” — Sophocles “It is with my power either to serve God or not to serve Him. Serving Him, I add to my own good and the good of the whole world. Not serving Him, I forfeit my own good and deprive the world of that good, which was in my power to create.” ...

  Featured image: Spider Web So delicate, the intricate, silky fibers of a spider's web.  These fibers are woven within the morning dew of the lush green grass. These fibers are thick, not as thick as a cotton ball but thick enough to be A loosely woven blanket for the American funnel spider, hiding deep within one She has created funnel holes in her blanket. Such a delicate, delicate thing this spider and its symmetrical color and design, and its web, and what appears to be Chaos, but I am sure it is finely tuned. Oh the hand of the Creator, and the spider's hands, or hands, all creators one. Amazing things we can do.

  Featured image: Ready Set Your journey isn’t made up of ironclad rules.  Your journey isn’t a recipe you follow, and everything will come out just fine.  You aren’t a wind-up toy heading in the same direction as all the other wind-up toys. Each of us needs to find our unique path to follow. We need to remove the key that someone else can use to wind us up and instead wind ourselves up, traveling our journey.

  Featured image: Climbing Tree A small finch lands on a branch of a tree. That tree, once so scraggly, is now deep in color. I wanted to cut it down way back when. Make more room in the garden, I said. But we didn’t cut it down, and now it thrives.  That tree reminds me every time when I look at its beauty, that, like that tree, we need to give others a chance and space to thrive.

  Featured image: Storm Dances She watched the Sheet of rain Slide across the Lake Turning the horizon Grey Then black Lightning golden bolts Whipped across the Sky What energy Excitement She took a deep breath Embracing the Storm

  Featured image: Flowing River River, full  Continuous motion  Always active and changing  Mysterious Always intimate with beauty

Featured image: Wisdom Mystery, and secrets      Found in      Mr Crow your shiny      Plumage      Purple, black      Green Captivate       Your beauty      Your mystery