Imagination vs. Knowledge

 

Featured image: Imagination

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

— Albert Einstein

Trust That Voice

 

Featured image: Trusting Her

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

It is Within My Power

 

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

His Spirit

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, contrasting with the wooded southern end.

When I was fishing, I asked to be dropped off alone for a bit, and when I wanted to be picked up I would stand tall on one of those rocks and wave my arms. I couldn’t be missed in my bright pink sweater (I wasn’t missed).

Anyway, I wander the island every year we go to Kasba. This year, I tried to touch as many rocks as I could. Then I just stood still, closed my eyes, turned my head to the sky, and felt the presence of as many things as I could. I began to feel a bright yellow-white radiant light rising from the earth—from my feet to the tips of my hands, to the sky. It was a glorious light.

I felt His Spirit in this light—through the earth and through all things. For me, this was feeling His Spirit in me, and I want to feel it in me as much as I can, though I don’t always. But when I share it with others, it frequently appears.

So I may be selfish right now, because when I think of all the excellent spirits I am touching, why wouldn’t I want to do that? The same thing happens with my work, my art—it’s glorious. Just glorious.

If You Have a God

 

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?

Trust and Love

 

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 create, and to live in the transitional, constantly changing movement. To live with this child within, to feel burdened by this child, and to teach this child to search, create, and move beyond what is—to explore and discover.

Lately, when I am burdened, I search. I explore. I look for the flowing river—the rippling sound of water moving across the cooling rocks. I take a deep breath, lie on my back, float with the river, and say yes—yes—to the rhythm until I can once again begin to trust and love myself. Until I can again begin to trust and love my internal guide and spirit—and go for it.

It is not easy, this path. Trust and love are so important.

Foundations

 

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.

Glass Slippers

 

Featured image: Earth Sings

Are you looking for your glass slippers?

You don’t have to look very far—

for they are within.

Ask Yourself

 

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?

Magical Work

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.

Wandering

 

Featured image: Wandering I

"Not all who wander are lost." - J.R.R. Tolkien

Erased Painting

 

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 always believed it was my calling, that God’s Spirit was in me calling me. Oh, I have fallen off the wagon many times—He knows. One time for over 2 years. But He keeps calling. And I have heard other creatives say the same thing. There must be something to this spirit within that we cannot see.

Yesterday, there wasn’t one person who stepped into my gallery/studio during the Northwoods Art Tour, not one—and I kid you not—even the ones who knew nothing about contemporary, abstract, conceptual artwork—who didn’t say, “I just love your work; you are so inspirational; you make me so happy.” NOT ONE. Were they saying that to me? No, they were saying that to the Spirit within.

Thank you, Spirit within. Thank you, beautiful people who know and love creatives. For our culture needs them more than ever now, and our culture is losing them quickly. I am finding the shift from 9-to-5 jobs to Gen Z culture a very interesting shift and a difficult conceptual shift for many. But if you follow history on a linear path—which many like to think of themselves as historians—I myself think of myself as a closet historian—they are a product, yes, a product, of what they were taught.

I take what I was taught, and I am a glorious mixture of contemporary, conceptual abstractionism, and a 9-to-5er. I, with all my heart, believe in what the Gen Zers believe—entrepreneurship, creative ventures. Where we differ is in individualism and uniqueness, that extremely, extremely important element in abstract expressionism that gets erased—like the painting by de Kooning erased by Robert Rauschenberg—where the act itself was the creative act.

His Will For Me

 

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.

Tomorrow is a mystery.

But today—today—is a gift.

He believes in me. I believe in Him. His spirit runs in my veins—always has. I can feel it. I have always felt it.

I am the Creator’s creation. I am a creator. And while I still do “stupid” things, thank goodness I still feel His spirit—His magic wand—in my soul, in my heart, and in His will for me.

Say Yes

 

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.

Raindrops

 

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.

Art Isn't

 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.

Red Oak

 

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.

Oak Tree

 

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.

Change and Movement

 

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.

Freedom

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.

Hummingbirds Leaving

 

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 exercise of just “what is art?” question.

But this week the word change certainly has shouted change to me. I really barely knew who Charlie Kirk was, but the X generation certainly did – on both sides. Why has the news media broken down the story of his death into 2 sides – a binary – why? And once I knew more about him, I was saddened to the quick about his death and the change his death had brought to me. And the change in the word “fascist” I found very interesting – I thought to myself – why was the man believed to be a fascist? I would never have labeled him a fascist, yet another why of creating change, labeling others.

I always thought of fascists as Nazi-like, Hitler-like, yet this man was a Christian.  So I looked up the root word fascist. Keeping this simple the word fascist seems to have been used by all political groups according to Wikipedia, “Anti-fascism has been an element of movements across the political spectrum and holding many different political positions such as anarchism, communism, pacifism, republicanism, social democracy, socialism and syndicalism as well as centrist, conservative, liberal and nationalist viewpoints.”  

The point being words and their meanings change – but one word I believe carries the same meaning across every political spectrum: ‘freedom.’  I have written a lot about the word freedom.  I will put it in my next journal entry. 

For now I will end with a James Nathan Muir quote.

“FREEDOM lies just beyond the fences we build around ourselves.” 
James Nathan Muir

He Will Answer

 

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.”
— Leo Tolstoy

Personally, I think Tolstoy is right. The whole reason for bringing these ideas and concepts up here is “change.” Ideas, concepts, and words shift throughout history. Nothing is consistent; they change according to what different cultures—and the people within them—need in order to survive and thrive. The one thing that I have found that remains relatively stable is the concept of creativity.

The Spider

 

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.

Your Travel Journey

 

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.

That Tree

 

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.

Embracing the Storm

 

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

The River

 

Featured image: Flowing River

River, full

 Continuous motion

 Always active and changing

 Mysterious

Always intimate with beauty

Captivate

Featured image: Wisdom

Mystery, and secrets

    Found in

    Mr Crow your shiny

    Plumage

    Purple, black

    Green

Captivate 

    Your beauty

    Your mystery

On Top of the World

Featured image: Sweet Sweet Surrender- The Spirit of the Land, The Flow of the Water

I feel like I am on top of the world.

Curve

Small pine

Peeks of black spruce

On the horizon

Bobbing in the water

The energy from the

Lake

Emerging, emerging

I wish it was 

Perpetual

It makes you feel so

Alive

So very

alive

The Energy

 

Featured image: Fishing at the Top of the World

Fishing pole in hand Feeling the bottom of the lake Deep, deep down Feeling connected to all That is as I look towards The horizon So far, so far away Touching the sky Feeling connected to all To all that is

The energy That rises from the Pole To the horizon – To all that is  Just... So powerful

Backyard Birds Receives Award

 

Featured image: Backyard Birds

I am truly honored that my painting Backyard Birds received the Bronze Medal Award at the 32nd Annual Red River Watercolor Society National Juried Watermedia Exhibition.

This national exhibition, juried by the talented Kim Johnson Nechtman and held at the Diederich Art Gallery at Minnesota State University Moorhead, celebrates the power and beauty of watermedia in all its forms.

I’m deeply grateful for this recognition and for the chance to share my work alongside so many inspiring artists. Thank you to the Red River Watercolor Society, the juror, and to everyone who continues to support and celebrate the arts. Moments like this remind me of the joy of creating and the connections art makes possible.

Seeing

 

Featured image: Valleys Kissed by the Sun

Sunlight

Seeing

Sunlight makes the leaves transparent

The Garden

 

Featured image: I Come to the Garden Alone

When I lived in England, my home was a row house in the middle of a bunch of other row houses, with the saddest little plot of grass—at most 10x10—in the front and a brick-paved space in the back, allowing for a tiny backyard or front yard to play in.

But I was fortunate. There was a huge English garden right across the street from our house, so when I was home from an English girls' boarding school, I could wander the very cultivated paths. There were places to play cricket, tennis, soccer, or simply sit and read.

My favorite spot was two sitting benches, and in between them stood a large stone monument with a poem written in 1913 by Dorothy Frances Gurney, called God's Garden. I have always loved this poem. I used to sit on those benches and find peace there. I even have a plaque with this poem written on it in my own garden.

“The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is closer to God’s Heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.”

A Day Later

Featured image: Sun, Tree, Water

Even a day later, I can feel the rhythm of the water running through my body, making it one with the water, the earth, and the sky. Moving with all that is—this is the "isness" that I always talk about.

A day later, reflecting on the wonderful experiences we had, I look at my hands and see, I still have the earth of the Northwest Territories under my nails. This earth, this tiny bit of earth and its totalness, represents the silence as the day ended far off on the horizon; the songs the wind and the trees sang; and the waves as they came crashing on the shore. The song of the line of forever, drawn between the water and the sky. The song of wholeness. The song of yes, yes, yes that I always talk about.

The song of life, of connectedness, of naturalness, of possibilities—and the song of just being alive.

Just Back from Canada

 

I’ve just returned from an incredible trip to the Northwest Territories in Canada, and my heart is full. One of the highlights? Catching a massive 37-pound lake trout—all by myself! (Though in the photo it looks like Brad is helping me, I only asked him to hold it so we could safely release it. The lake is catch-and-release, and I didn’t want to risk harming such a beautiful fish.)

It was a thrilling fight—the trout was deep, and it took a long time to bring it in on a jig. The moment I finally landed it, I was elated! Beyond that, we also caught grayling and pike, making it a full and unforgettable fishing adventure.

Ten days of wild beauty, big fish, and endless wonder. Truly, my heart is filled.

Possibility

 

Featured image: What Lies Beneath

Possibility is far more frightening, far more terrifying than any impossibility.

Think about that one.

Silver Streaks

 

Featured image: Flowing River

Silver streaks
  dancing
   with the water,
glorious—glorious—
  movement.

Tones and Textures

 

Featured image: Arizona Landscape

Landscapes quietly absorb the tones, textures and rhythms of our living.

The Rules to Our Journeys

 

Featured 3D Sculpture: Fish

There are no rules for our creative journeys. If there were, we would all be wind-up toys heading in the same directions—or no direction—and never knowing what that direction is.

I have been collecting wind-up toys for a piece in my new 3-D series (I have enough ideas for my 3-D series to last a year or more, honestly). I told folks during the tour that when I first moved most of the 3-D collection out to its new spot, I just started assembling all my ideas. Finally, I had to say to myself – stop, just stop, you can’t do this – so I am limiting myself to three at a time. I will photo a couple of them that are pretty well along so you can see where I am heading with this.

One is a hand-carved fish. It came with a letter about who carved the fish. Beautiful history. It is mounted on a turned-upside-down fruit bowl. Hand-turned. Beautiful wood. Some huge cracks in it that had to be fixed. I had no idea these things would take so much time to work on.

You may be saying to yourself – why is she destroying history like that – but I am not. I am just bringing history forward, imagining what it might be like, what it could be like, giving others ideas, and perhaps an idea that might possibly trigger something else, and then something else—sort of like science fiction in the arts. The key here is to imagine, to think outside the box, and not be some wind-up toy just playing follow the leader.

Well, perhaps I will only share one with you all—and share them with you slowly—not to overwhelm you with too much creative thinking.

Love to all of you.
C

P.S. Note: the big fish has a smaller fish in his mouth—the lure is a vintage lure—the key is an old clock key

Play Play Play

 

Featured image: Hummer III

Play
 Play
  Play
"What we play is life." — Louis Armstrong

Couldn’t agree more with him. Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy—pure creative energy I believe—and when we don’t have it, our life isn’t the best. You can feel it.

Play
 Play
  Play

Your empowerment of life is your spirit; your spirit is your creative energy. Let it flow. My eyes were closed. I could feel the energy of the hummingbird’s wings hover above my face. I imagined that little being there, smelling the sweet nectar of my coffee and the red potted flowers next to me—sweet, sweet life.

Northwoods Receives Award

I'm excited to share that one of my newest pieces, Northwoods (30x60, watermedia on clayboard), was featured in the 60th Annual Manito Art League Art Show —and received a Merit Award Ribbon!

This annual show is a special tradition in our region and celebrated 60 years of promoting great art in the beautiful Northwoods. I’m grateful to be part of a creative community that supports artists through exhibitions, workshops, and weekly plein air gatherings.

A heartfelt thank you to the Manito Art League for this recognition and for continuing to nurture the arts in such a meaningful way. Being part of this milestone year made it all the more special.

Backyard Birds Accepted Into Exhibition

 

I'm honored to share that my painting Backyard Birds has been accepted into the 32nd Annual Red River Watercolor Society National Juried Watermedia Exhibition!

This year’s show will be held at the beautiful Diederich Art Gallery at Minnesota State University Moorhead, from August 25 to September 19, and juried by the incredibly talented Kim Johnson Nechtman.

I'm deeply thankful to be included among so many inspiring artists and grateful for opportunities like this that celebrate the joy and challenge of working in watercolor.

If you're in the area, I hope you'll stop by and experience the exhibition!

The Divine In Us

 

Featured image: Travelers

The divine in us is there all the time. We just need to wake it up and discover it. It will always be there to travel with us on our creative, very unique, individual journey of life.

Shelter Receives Award

 

I'm honored and truly grateful to share that my piece "Shelter" received the Gale Wilcox Award, a Special Merit Award at the 38th Northern National Art Competition held at Nicolet College in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.

Juried by interdisciplinary artist, educator, and curator Jalesa Johnston, this national exhibition showcases a wide range of powerful, contemporary two-dimensional work. I’m incredibly thankful to be included in such a vibrant and inspiring show.

Juror Jaleesa Johnston reflected on Shelter, saying it “really captures the emotional central movement of the oceans. It straddles a line between a representational work and an abstract—just like the ocean. I feel like I’m in a boat in the middle of the ocean.”

Thank you to Nicolet College, the Northern Arts Council, and everyone involved in making this exhibition such a meaningful experience. Shelter was a deeply personal piece, and it’s humbling to see it recognized in this way.

Thank You for Attending

Featured image: Northwoods

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who visited during the Northwoods Art Tour this past weekend. It was such a joy to welcome you into my creative space, share conversations about art, and see so many familiar—and new—faces.

Your interest, encouragement, and thoughtful presence mean more than words can express. I truly believe in the power of art to keep our communities colorful, curious, and deeply connected—and your support helps make that possible.

Thank you for making space in your weekend for creativity, for celebrating the arts, and for reminding me why this work matters.

Until next time—stay inspired, stay bold, and keep color in your world.

Blessings to all, 
Christine

Northwoods Art Tour Starts TODAY!!

 

The Northwoods Art Tour kicks off today, and I’d love to welcome you into my creative space! This self-guided tour is your chance to visit working studios, meet local artists, and experience the creative spirit of the Northwoods in full swing.

From expressive paintings to unexpected 3-D works, each stop offers something different—and you just might discover a piece that resonates with you.

You’ll find me at Stop #13 in the brochure. Come say hello, explore the work, and enjoy the beauty of art in the Northwoods.

🗓️ July 25–27

Learn more: https://christinealfery.com/pages/northwoods-art-tour

In My Forest

 Featured image: Dancing with the Wind and the Trees

In my backyard forest, the trees aren’t in rows. They are scattered about. Below are huge pines and saplings, aspens whose leaves are flat and twist and turn in the breeze.

In my forest, the ground is moist and spongy. There are deep, deep brown mosses, fallen bark, and dried fall leaves from years ago. 

In my forest, there is a very dense canopy.  Sunlight peeks through in some spots.

In my forest, trees growing along the lakeshore have roots exposed from the soft sandy soil. These roots look like branches with no leaves, but they are powerful, muscular roots that bring life to the tree.

While walking in my forest, I listen to squirrels performing high-wire acts from tree to tree. I breathe slowly, full of gladness.

There is magic in my forest.