Joy

About ten years ago my mom asked me to pull a large portfolio from under her bed that she'd purchased at a neighborhood garage sale about a decade before. Inside were at least a hundred paintings on watercolor paper. Some were signed, some were not, some seemed to be the same artist, some seemed varied. We looked them over and I loved the colors, though the subject matter didn't hold my interest. When she died several years ago the portfolio, minus a few paintings that sold at her estate sale, ended up leaning against the wall behind our couch. I pulled it out this weekend and created what I consider to be a collaborative piece. This was originally an abstract piece, but I saw flowers...of course. I'm looking forward to doing more.

"Joy"

Acrylic, watercolor, and wax pastels on paper

30"x22"

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog

From Far Below the Canopy

 Don't limit yourself by only looking up. There is much to see all around you from far below the canopy.

And fun fact, David helped create this one! A collaborative New Year's Day piece!

"From Far Below the Canopy"

Acrylic, graphite, and alcohol ink on canvas

14"x11"

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog. 

We are Beauty

There is beauty in our pain and there is beauty in our recovery. There is beauty in our fear and there is beauty in our confidence. There is beauty in our incompleteness and there is beauty in our being whole. There is beauty in our sadness and there is beauty in our joy. We are beauty.

"We are Beauty"

Mixed Media

Original available for $85.

12"x9" on canvas

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Find Your Sparkle

I attended an Art Spark Texas meeting last night and had the opportunity to listen to activist, playwright, and filmmaker,  Terry Galloway. She was funny, passionate, and wise. One thing she said that struck me so much that I wrote it on my art table..."Run toward it...let yourself be enveloped." (I hope she doesn't mind me quoting her here.) I was working on this painting while she spoke and today I added some sparkle to the hair and couldn't help but think, "Find your sparkle...run toward it...let yourself be enveloped."

So, friends, I wish this for all of you.

"Find Your Sparkle"

Mixed Media

Original available for $85.

12"x9" on canvas

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

risky...maybe

I've never been what I consider to be a risk taker. I sometimes do things that others might consider to be brave or even commendable, but as far as actual risk goes, I'm not really a fan. I've never been more aware of this trait of mine than I am during this pandemic. My bubble during this time is my husband, our dog, two cats, and Phyllis, our chicken. We order our groceries, Zoom with family and friends, and hang out within the lines of our property. Pretty much all the time. For months now. This is my comfortable risk level.

Over time I've had to come to terms with the fact that everyone is not, in fact, like me. For others a widened bubble of family and friends is their comfortable risk level. For some backyard pool parties is their comfortable risk level. And for some going places without a mask is their comfortable risk level. Aside from that last one, and maybe a the one before the last one, if I'm really being honest, I'm having to become OK with what others choose to do.

Non risk taking and rule following me is doing her best to breathe through all the decisions I cannot control. Deep breath in...deep breath out.

"risky...maybe"

Mixed Media

Original available for $85.

16"x12" on watercolor paper

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Eyes of Green

Only 5% of the population have hazel eyes. Sometimes I wonder if this explains why I see the world so differently than others.

"Eyes of Green"

Mixed Media

Original available for $85.

12"x9" on canvas

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

hold me

In my sixteen years of teaching I have never had a first day of school (or any day, really) when every student just walked right in, happy to say "good bye" to their parents, and smoothly joined their peers in learning and play. Very few of my students do this. Many of my students need (and deserve) to be hugged and held through this transition that is such a leap into the great unknown for them. I've hugged and held students at drop off for days, weeks, and sometimes months until they adjusted, hugging and holding three, four, and five year old children who do not fully comprehend this transition or just simply want their mom and dad. And while hugging one child others invariably come over to join the hug. I've had parents have to enter my classroom while still holding their children and in a tangle of arms, mine, the parent's, and the child's, I take over the comforting of these children as their parents make an exit and I give them a friendly look over their child's shoulder or wave, reassuring them that their child will be OK. This is something I've embraced as part of my job.

This school year my students will be being dropped off with a shielded and masked teacher that they may or may not recognize (even though I will be doing a Zoom meetings with them before school starts showing myself putting all of my PPE on). They will have just been through whatever screening protocols the district decides upon and gone through some process of getting to my room. Being upset by this transition is to be expected and understandable. In the current crisis requiring distance, how can I comfort my students and keep them and myself safe. How can I lean in and be part of a tangle of arms? How can I reassure parents that it's going to be OK?  It's possible that some of my students may be able to wear a mask, but it will likely be beyond many of their comprehension, tolerance, and ability to do so for an entire school day, and probably won't be required by the district anyway.

So much to think about and this is just the first five or so minutes of each school day.

"hold me"

Mixed Media

Original available for $85.

16"x12" on watercolor paper

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

i'm mostly ok

This sweet owl emerged from a writing prompt I did during an Art Spark Texas meeting. The very first layer of this painting is a letter I wrote to young me about how something about me then was going to be a superpower for me during COVID times. So I wrote a letter to young Kali, who loved to hang out on her roof behind the chimney where no one could see her, and how good she was at being in her own company. Back then I'd bring dolls, art supplies, books and more up on the roof and entertain myself in the shadow of the chimney as long as the sun allowed. I was OK then, mostly. And I'm mostly OK, now, too.

"i'm mostly ok"

Mixed Media

Original available for $85.

16"x12" on watercolor paper

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

play with me

As an Early Childhood Special Education teacher, teaching children social skills, how to work, solve problems, and play together are among my primary and favorite objectives. We teach, and children learn, through play. This coming school year instead of teaching my three, four, and five year old students with disabilities how to play and socialize together I will be put in the position of teaching them how to stay apart...distanced. How harmful will it be to the children in our society to be taught to suffocate that internal urge to be with, beside, and among their peers? How harmful will it be to be taught that when they want to empathize with a friend who is sad or hurt that they must stay away? How harmful will it be to be taught that when they want to play that they must sit away from friends and only play with their own set of toys? In person teaching before we can safely be in close proximity has dangers far beyond contracting the virus.

Mixed Media

Original available for $85.

16"x12" on watercolor paper

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

i want to live

i want to live

Please wear a mask, my friends. It's something we can and should do.

This is my 3rd piece inspired by a class I'm taking from Jenny Doh.

Mixed Media

Original available for $85.

12"x16" on watercolor paper

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Recommit to the Work that Remains Undone

With respect and celebration I'd like to pair this quote with a painting I completed today.

"Juneteenth is a time to recommit ourselves to the work that remains undone. 
We remember that even in the darkest hours, there is cause to hope for tomorrow's light."

-President Barack Obama

Mixed Media

Original available for $85.

16"x12" on paper

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

"Shared Adventures"

Life was made for shared adventures.

"Shared Adventures"

Mixed Media

Original available here for $85

20"x24" on canvas

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Hello, Friend!

I painted this last week when I wasn't feeling very well. Each time I walked into the room where I was creating it I found myself saying, "Hello, friend!" and my spirits were instantly lifted.

"Hello, Friend!"

 Acrylic

Original available here for $85.

30"x24" on an upcycled canvas

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Transparent

"Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway."

-Mother Teresa

"Transparent"

Acrylic

Original available here for $85.

30"x24" on an upcycled canvas

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Girl Power

Girl Power!

"Girl Power"

Original available here for $85.

12"x16" on watercolor paper

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Hope

My hope for girls and women of all ages...that they may fulfill their dreams, find happiness, soar to the highest heights, and shine ever so brightly...and that they may do so feeling they can trust in this world of ours.

"Hope"

Original available here for $85.

16"x12" on watercolor paper

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Embrace Diversity

"If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity."

-JFK

"Embrace Diversity"

Original available here for $85.

19"x13.5"x.5" on wood leftover from a friend's woodworking project.

Edges painted and ready to hang.

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.) 

All works are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by the artist.

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Depths

"her soul was too

deep to explore

by those who

always swam in

the shallow end."

a.j. lawless

"Depths"

  I painted this painting over another one of my paintings. 

Here's how it was before I painted over it.

I'm LOVING recycling my own works!

I had liked this painting, but it never sold...time to give it new life!

 24"x12" on canvas

Original painting is available for purchase here.

All works are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by the artist.

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.

The Earth Laughs in Flowers

"The Earth laughs in flowers."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

I was given this oval canvas quite a while back. Another artist had started a painting on it and had never finished. It's sat and sat and sat waiting for the right inspiration and I finally found it and lay my own paint all over it. It took me a while to figure out which way was up once I finished this piece, but the drips convinced me that they really wanted to be stems.

Love when my paintings talk to me!

"The Earth Laughs in Flowers"

Original available here for $95.

14"x11" oval canvas

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.) 

All works are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by the artist.

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.

Once Upon a Time he was but a Twinkle in his Father's Eye

I've got a soft spot in my heart for father/son relationships.

"Once Upon a Time he was but a Twinkle in his Father's Eye"

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.