Creatively Thinking

  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...