There are seasons in all of our lives when the earth appears still from a distance, though everything beneath it is changing.
I have watched women move through those seasons.
From fence posts and quiet rafters, from the bend of winding roads and the hush of morning light, I have seen them carry one another through landscapes both beautiful and treacherous. I have watched them become softer without becoming weak. I have watched them rebuild through faith in silence.
This collection begins there.
Not simply in the western horizon or the long figures that inhabit these paintings, but in the unseen thread that exists between people who choose to remain beside each other while life reshapes them.
The bluebird appears throughout this series as a witness to renewal. A small presence. A quiet return. A reminder that even after harsh weather, like the "birds of the air" we all look for hope and song.
The mountains within these works are not merely scenery. They are the trials we climb, the distances we survive, the impossible stretches that somehow become part of us. And the figures standing together before them represent what I have come to believe deeply- that true transformation is rarely a solitary thing.
Updraft is a collection about strong foundations and movement.
About the wind that carries us higher after seasons that tried to keep us grounded.
About memory, sisterhood, faith, and the courage it takes to continue becoming.
These paintings were intentionally created with mixed media to draw you in closer to the surface. Whether it's the rough western feel of burlap reminding us of old grain sacks, or the simplicity of muslin soaking up the paint like a vintage garment. The surface of these pieces wants you to connect your present or past trials in life with the resilience of those in past generations to their ability to press upward and through... to joy again.