painting
“I love watching personalities emerge from people, plants, buildings... we all reflect light and occupy space.”
—Amber, the painter
PORTRAITS
Joyful Lady
ORIGINAL FOR SALE
9"x12" acrylic on canvas
I love how this woman's joy and effervescence is so infectious. Painting her was an absolute joy.
Jeffrey
ORIGINAL SOLD
5"x7" acrylic on canvas board
This is Jeffrey, wearing my sisters tutu. Jeffrey and his family were next door neighbors when my family lived in New Mexico. Jeffrey is mid-50s now, I wonder if he ever took dance classes?
TRAVEL
Eye-bathing: A Self Portrait
ORIGINAL FOR SALE
9"x12" acrylic on canvas
This is a self portrait. As a human, some days are not so fun. Not only is art therapy, but I hope to show that grieving is necessary - and won't last forever. One can grieve and not lose sight of the future, the eyes just get a little bath.
Young Man in Blue
ORIGINAL FOR SALE
9"x12" acrylic on canvas
This young man is really very funny. Behind the serious look I'm sure he is laughing uncontrollably.
The Man, The Legend
ORIGINAL NFS
16"x20" acrylic on canvas
This is a very special portrait of a man/musician/soulmate who's life ended with suicide. He saw this painting in its current state and said how much he liked it, just as it is. He died soon after and this portrait never saw more paint. It is finished in an unfinished state just like the life of its subject.
Calle Venier, Venezia
ORIGINAL SOLD
9"x12" acrylic on canvas
Venice is most magical at night after the tourists have reboarded thier cruise ships and the sounds of water lapping in the canals echoes past the ghosts in the walls and streets of centuries past, and they're still alive.
Anchored Boat on Tahiti Shore
ORIGINAL FOR SALE
22"x28" acrylic on canvas
Tahiti is a magical place. While walking on the shore on what was a rainy day, an anchored boat patiently waited in the calm water. Did it just arrive? Waiting to depart? Waiting for me...?
Peace Road, Dahab
ORIGINAL FOR SALE
11"x14" raw pigment oil on canvas
Peace Road is a real street and I know where to find it. Dahab is just north of the famous city Sharm-el-Sheikh in the Sinai peninsula of Egypt. A quiet scuba diving paradise that has not dodged tragedy. Everyone I met (most everyone, people are still human everywhere) in Egypt, not just Dahab, was not only friendly but incredibly giving. People, everyday people.
Flower Girl
ORIGINAL SOLD
9"x12" acrylic on canvas
This was a commissioned painting for someone who wanted something colorful, possibly floral, and they work with children. I traveled to Tahiti in 2007 and found it to be one of the most vibrant, relaxing, peaceful places I've ever been. The client wanted beauty and one of the best subjects I know to fit all of their criteria is French Polynesia.
Mi Amiga Burro en Granada, Nicaragua
ORIGINAL FOR SALE
6"x8" acrylic on canvas board
Nicaragua is one of my favorite countries to travel to. One can go volcano boarding and surfing on the same day, but it's often overlooked as a travel option by many. On one trip I spent a few weeks volunteering as a dance teacher at a circus school in Granada. One day, a few friends and I were working on a video project at one of their houses. When we opened the front door three donkeys were looking back at us. This donkey, mi amiga burro, was a little more curious than the others and followed us a while.
Venetian Escape Alley
ORIGINAL SOLD
5"x7" acrylic on canvas board
During the day in Venice the streets are chaotic with cruise ship tourists frantically taking pictures, shopping, pushing... It's a challenge to find a place quiet enough to listen to the city, observe interactions of Venetians also avoiding the masses high up in their apartments, talking to each other through windows across courtyards. Their voices echoing down alleys like ghosts still going about their daily business. In my own avoidance of the crowds I turned a corner and saw a surprising scene, silence. An alley so narrow it was a wonderful mystery to see where it went. It was not a dead end, but flet like an escape portal.
Lift Bridge, Stillwater
ORIGINAL SOLD
4"x4" raw pigment oil on canvas
The iconic Stillwater Lift Bridge on a quiet afternoon.
This painting is part of a series of MINI-sota paintings. Little snapshots of iconic and/or historic Minnesota locations.
HWY 61, MN
ORIGINAL FOR SALE
4"x4" raw pigment oil on canvas
Historic HWY 61 runs from the Canadian border to the southeastern edge of MN. One day I was driving back from Duluth along the scenic route and this sign struck me funny. I thought, “I don’t think 61 is that old. Rude.”
This painting is part of a series of MINI-sota paintings. Little snapshots of iconic and/or historic Minnesota locations.
Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland
ORIGINAL FOR SALE
6"x8" acrylic on canvas board
I lived in Dublin, Ireland for nearly 3 years, and towards the end of my time there I was cast in a play up in Derry, Northern Ireland. A benefactor of the theatre was “shocked” that no one I was working with had brought me to the Causeway. Lady Macnaghten invited me to stay at her “house” (the Dundarave Mansion in Bushmills) and she took me to the Giant’s Causeway. It was cold and windy and when we pulled up in front of her house and I walked into the main hall lined with busts on pedestals of past Lady Macnaghtens and all around above me a mezzanine with heirloom paintings on every wall panel… I briefly got to live a Jane Austen adventure. And then I was brought to the Causeway.
The Town Bicycle of Ravenna
ORIGINAL FOR SALE
18"x24" raw pigment oil on canvas
Ravenna, Italy is the city of mosaics, was the seat of Rome when Rome had fallen, the birthplace of Dante… and one of the most charming seaside cities I’ve visited. While I was walking down the street away from Dante’s tomb, there was a mosaic’d bicycle on the mosaic sidewalk leaning against a mosaic wall. The graffiti (in English?) completed the whole image of what it is to be Italian.
ABSTRACT
This is Not a Urinal
ORIGINAL SOLD
24"x36" acrlic on wood
I think it's funny. A little bathroom art in a similar mindset of "c'est ci nes pas une pipe." It's a picture of a urinal.
The Tower
ORIGINAL SOLD
36"x48" acrylic on plywood
I did this painting as part of a theatre set, and it now resides in a private home. Painted in a design of a stained glass window, The Tower is part of the major arcana in the Tarot deck. Although it may look menacing, it is an image of change. Maybe the people jumped? Where they are jumping to is unknown, but they made the choice of not staying in their guilded tower and burning to death. Change is inevitable and can be painful, but it is reliable.
Magical Sunset
ORIGINAL SOLD
18"x24" acrylic on canvas
This painting is inspired by a photograph of my parents taken in 1958, before they were married. The world around us in unpredictable and also not experienced the same for each person. We find strength in partnership, shared experiences, hope for the future and appreciate the past - watching the sunset.
Resilience
ORIGINAL SOLD
8"x10" acrylic on canvas
The lotus is an amazing flower. I grows in inhospitable muck and blooms without being pulled down and any mud splashes roll of the leaves. 2020 is has been a year of resilience, finding our inner lotus.
Wild Dala
ORIGINAL SOLD
8"x10" acrylic on canvas
As mornings get cooler in MN and trees show hints of yellows and oranges I can't help but think of what's coming - snow. And having Swedish family, Dala horses, yul goats, candle chimes all wait to be released from their protective boxes.
Hippocampus
ORIGINAL FOR SALE
18"x24" raw pigment oil on canvas
The Hippocampus is a sea horse, or in literal translation a horse sea monster. Poseidon’s chariot is drawn by Hippocampi, but these creatures live deep underwater when not working for the god of the sea. They are shy, benevolent beings willing to help anyone in need. The Hippocampus is a symbol of hope.
This painting is part of a series of dream paintings. Images that I the artist have no conscious attachment to, but pester me to be illustrated.
Reflections in a Canal: Venice
ORIGINAL FOR SALE
12"x9" acrylic on canvas
Venice is such a mysterious city. A collection of over 100 tiny islands making up the city of concrete and canals, of commerce and Carnevale. The watery "streets" reflecting the human architecture above and containing nature's phenomena below that supports it. Everywhere one walks water knocks on the canal sides commanding to be looked at and seems to say, "I am not controlled by you, remember."
E a Parede Dançou
ORIGINAL FOR SALE
14"x11" acrylic and gypsum on canvas
This was inspired by a Brazilian artist friend who during the Covid lockdowns made videos and sent pictures of himself creating theatre and music. I loved the heartfelt expression of him playing a guitar, and knowing he was alone. I imagined the song he was playing and a ghost in the wall peeling away to dance.
(And the Wall Danced)
NATURE
Oh, Fiddleheads!
ORIGINAL FOR SALE
12"x36" acrylic on canvas
In the beginning of spring fiddleheads coyly sway with the trees and prairie, looking like they're holding onto a secret. And then one day they disappear and attention-seeking ferns fill the place they once occupied.