Creatively Thinking

  Featured image: Springtime Breeze “Sweet, sweet holy as the day begins.” — CEA

  Featured image: Intersections II “ Art is grounded in the evolving, changing, formal, visual language that tries to define it. ”  CEA

  Featured image: Yellow Birds at the Feeder I wonder how I can ever feel angry when I look at “my woods.” Today, I have officially decided to call them “my woods.” That is assuming a lot, but they sure feel like “my woods.” The sun is shining on “my trees,” and the birds are at my feeders. I feel so grateful. I can’t imagine ever feeling angry. Why do I get angry? And yet, I still do. Today, I am simply grateful for all this “wonder.” So I am sharing and just embracing the day, even though I have to do taxes… grrrrrrr. Love to all.

  Featured image: Valentine Valentine’s Day feels like a gentle invitation to celebrate beauty. In the studio, I am always chasing it — the hush of winter light, the lift of a wing, the fragile bloom that will not last long. To paint is to linger with what moves us. Perhaps that is one quiet form of love: to translate wonder into color, line, and form… and to offer it back to the world. Today, I’m grateful for those who make space for art in their lives — and for the simple, enduring power of beauty. Wishing you a day touched by something that stirs your heart. 💛

Featured image: Rosie Robot I just sort of fell into creating some assemblage works of art for my exhibition at the Campanile. I started doing one, discovered I loved it and was having fun doing it, so I did another one. And another. Then I began to think I was receiving a message and started to listen, to take the message seriously, and to research the concept of assemblage. Naturally, the idea of assemblage took hold in the 60’s with Duchamp and the rest of the abstract group, as I will call them for simplicity’s sake. But I really shouldn’t—they are all some of my very favorite artists, and they did so very much for art history, both good and bad. Today I began to wonder differently about them. I used to think they were the ones who opened our minds to new ways of thinking about art. I have always thought that this was good. But today I began to wonder if it wasn’t also bad, because look at what we have for art today: nothing precious, nothing unique, nothing original. Look at assem...

  Featured image: Hawk III I’m truly honored—and deeply grateful—to share that my painting Hawk has been accepted into the 17th Annual Signature Watermedia Exhibition, on view March 21 through April 18, 2026. To be included among fellow Signature artists in a show that celebrates both mastery and fresh perspective feels especially meaningful to me. Exhibitions like this are not simply about displaying work; they are about entering into a larger conversation—one shaped by years of dedication to the medium, by risk, by growth, and by imagination. For as long as I can remember, birds have carried symbolic weight in my art. Hawks, in particular, embody vision, strength, and independence. In this piece, I wanted to honor that watchful presence—the ability to rise, to see clearly, and to trust the currents beneath the wings. These ideas have shaped my life and my art, and I return to them again and again. The opening reception will be held Saturday, March 21, from 4–6 PM. I’m thankful to...

  Featured image: Intersections II I have begun working with found objects. They are often very different in their usage from their prior life—like rusted metal gears, old parts and gears, screws and washers that I have found in boxes that were abandoned long ago. A real treasure I found once—and I didn’t even know it at the time—was a wooden gear about 4” in diameter. I haven’t found a use for it yet, but I will. It just needs to be imagined. That’s the hard part. The other day, during my opening reception, someone asked me where I got all my birds, and I told him I bought them. Most of the things I am working with sell themselves to me. They know I think they are treasures and that I will make something special out of them. Some of the small birds I don’t do anything to, and others I cover with different materials, like plaster of Paris, concrete, and papier-mâché. I try not to use anything toxic, as I used a lot of materials like that in my earlier years as an artist, and I thou...

  Wings Sculpture,  10'x7' My exhibition, Opposites, is currently on view at the Campanile Center for the Arts, Campanile Gallery in Minocqua, Wisconsin, and will remain open through March. The exhibition is available by appointment only. To schedule a visit, please contact the Campanile Center for the Arts Monday through Thursday at (715) 356-9700 and ask for Laurie or Sandy. You are also very welcome to contact me directly at (715) 588-7115 or on my cell at (715) 401-9585 (within reason, of course) to arrange a personal tour. I would be glad to walk the exhibition with you and talk together about the work. The idea of opposites has long fascinated me. Without black and white, there would be no gray. One does not exist without the other. This simple truth opens up a much larger way of thinking about balance, contrast, and transformation. Much of my current work explores this idea through music and color. Red and yellow move toward one another and, in their meeting, become ora...

  Be Different I’m honored and grateful to share that two of my paintings, Be Different and Inner Compass, have been invited into Covered & Kept, an online Virtual Reality exhibition presented by Adonai Global Arts Fund. This exhibition centers on ideas of being covered, guided, and held—sometimes visibly, often quietly. These are themes I return to in my work again and again, explored through inner landscapes and symbolic spaces rather than literal narratives. Both Be Different and Inner Compass reflect that inward listening—the place where direction, faith, and resilience begin to emerge. I’m thankful for the invitation and for the care behind this exhibition. It feels meaningful to place these works within a space that treats art as a form of shelter, reflection, and shared experience. 💛 Your Inner Compass

  Featured image: Blackbird Historical time is a tangible thread woven through the fabric of my creative conceptual art objects and forms. This thread pulses with the rhythm of life, marking moments that ripple into memory, imagination, and legacy. Every brushstroke and every sculpted form becomes a heartbeat—a vibrant echo of the past, a resonant pulse of the present, and an anticipatory cadence for futures yet untold. Recording visual histories serves not merely as documentation but as celebration: a woven tapestry where forgotten narratives are revived, reimagined, and propelled forward to inspire and transform into a new dialogue. Through this dynamic interplay, time transcends its linear confines, becoming a multidimensional canvas for stories longing to be heard, seen, and felt anew. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. When I create the threads—the tangible threads that weave the creative expressions of my life ’ s journey—they all share one commonal...

  Featured image: December Loon Everything in life is movement and flow. Movement and flow Movement and flow.                                                                                                                      

  Featured image: Intersections A dear friend—I hope I can call her a friend—I have known her for a long time anyway, responded to one of my posts the other day about silence. She said something to the effect of, “Ah yes, the silence—there is nothing else like the Northwoods winter silence.” So true. So true.

 Featured Image: The Choir When you are creating art, you have to be a participant. What do I mean by that? I mean that you have to be there somehow—you have to be in the moment. You are zoned out of all things around you; nothing else bothers you. You hear nothing else. You see nothing else—really, you see nothing else but what you are creating. I find this happens when I am outside having my morning coffee, relating to the earth, relating to all that is. When I am in the moment, I am part of the blackbird, part of the bluebird, part of the snow on the ground—part of the silence of the snow. I am a participant. I am in the moment. I become a creative, and I create. Does this happen to anyone else? There is singing in my heart. There is a wonderful singing in my heart. Can you create and have singing in your heart? Try it.

  Featured image: Winter River Winter mornings bring stillness, calm, and dim light. Winter is always full of otherness. It is bitter cold; even when I don’t want to go out, I don’t know how the little birds do it. I remind myself every morning that if I didn’t want the birds to develop the habit, then I should not have started feeding them. And so I go out, come in a couple of times because it is so cold, and then go back out again. The warmth of their little bodies serves them well, somehow. It’s all part of a very, very complex master plan.

  I’m feeling very grateful today to share that my piece She Is a Creative was awarded Third Place in the Abstract National Exhibition at Mark Arts. This exhibition runs from January 9 through March 21, and being included among so many thoughtful and compelling works has already felt like an honor. Receiving this recognition adds another layer of gratitude to the experience. She Is a Creative speaks to ideas I return to again and again—the real, the imagined, and the quiet freedom found in listening to one’s inner voice. To know that this work resonated in this way is deeply meaningful to me. Thank you to the juror, the exhibition team, and everyone who continues to support my work and my ongoing journey as an artist. 💛

  Featured image: Different Journeys I’m grateful to share that my painting Different Journeys has been selected for inclusion in the National Online Showcase ’26 presented by the Watercolor Society of Alabama. Out of 115 works submitted by 66 artists, 50 pieces were chosen for this exhibition. I’m honored that Different Journeys is part of this thoughtful collection. This piece reflects something I return to often in my work—the understanding that each of us moves through the world along a distinct path, shaped by experience, intuition, and change. Though our journeys may differ, they often echo one another in quiet, meaningful ways. Moments like these remind me how art continues to connect us across distance, time, and individual paths. 💛

  Featured image: Playground My art has always been about “playing.” I can remember that I was always making little play corners all over the house. Finally, after a while, I found areas where my mom couldn’t find them and clean them up—corners under the rafters, hidden behind clothes in the closets—but they were always special places where I could play and imagine. My house is no different as a grown-up—it is filled with places that can turn into art-making areas in a jiffy so I can be with family all the time, or rather, so family can be with me. My studio is wherever I am; I just carry my supplies on a cart, like when I had art on a cart when I was first an art teacher. I would unload my supplies from the trunk of my car after loading them into the truck for the week from the central supply house for the school district, then unload them again and go into a school to be the traveling art teacher for that day—no fancy room for art teachers back then. Anyway—you carry your art wit...

  Featured image: She Is A Creative   I’m feeling deeply honored—and quietly excited—to share that I was invited to participate in the Abstract National Exhibition at Mark Arts in Wichita, Kansas. My piece, She Is a Creative, will be included in this exhibition, which runs from January 9 through March 21, with an opening reception on January 9 from 5–7 PM. When I read the juror’s letter, I was especially moved by the care and thought behind the selections. Out of hundreds of submissions, the work chosen reflects art that carries mystery, ambiguity, and a sense of resonance—qualities I return to again and again in my own practice. To know that this piece connected on that level feels meaningful and affirming. For as long as I can remember, my work has circled around the real, the imagined, and freedom. She Is a Creative is part of that ongoing conversation—an exploration of inner landscapes, intuition, and the quiet power of becoming. I’m grateful for the invitation, for the ju...