All the stuff

You’d’ve thought the sand was on fire if you caught sight of the Bucket Brigade running to the ocean for water and hauling it back up the beach two-fisted, a bucket in each hand. Trip after trip, the two girls labored so earnestly I was compelled to seek the impetus of their efforts… ah, a …

bucket brigade Read More »

Always jitteryAlways hurryingAlways hurtingAlways night Sick or woundedDisorientedAlways urgentAlways night Damp and coldShoved alongAlways strugglingAlways night Always blackAlways skewedAlways anxiousAlways night Drowning in the darkGrasping at patches of greySensing consciousnessAlways night When the dream comes

I can’t stop watchingthis precious humanloud and tough andbeautiful to understand Let this take me down You make meshook obsessed mesmerizedYour torment is hypnotic geniusdissolving me, cleansing my soul Let this take me down liquid talent dripping off your browlike you’ve been to the crossroadsbut stayed true through the change I am baptized in the …

THIS (Fevered Prayer) Read More »

The breeze speaks, and the trees rustle their leaves like butterflies alighting on wildflowers Her light voice plays gently in the grass, whispering along at my feetmaking her presence known through her light touch on my skin, twirling up, tousling my hair Flowers bob as if bowing as she passes, acknowledging her playful dignity Then …

breeze Read More »

Flickering candlelightglancing off raindropsshifting shadows offering glimpsesof the familiar roommade foreignby the plunge of darkness

The Dance Factory of Morganton contacted me about providing backdrops for a Christmas program. To fit their needs and budget, I designed three 15′ x 20′ backgrounds, which we hand painted on seamed canvas.

The Nature Hike line has expanded to redbubble! I’m really inspired by some of the tools available in the product design options, like the ability to tile your imaging! The Luna Moth was perfect for this, giving a hounds-tooth effect at a distance. The Trillium blossom turned out to be really nice against a dark …

Nature Hike at REDBUBBLE Read More »

A local playwright (Freddy Bradburn) wrote a bit in a folk tale performance that included a decapitated head, placed on a pike at the edge of town as a warning to others, that comes to life, greets its former traveling companions, and joins them in a song. And it needed to look like the actor …

Talking Decapitated head-on-a-pike. Read More »

Wrapping vector flame patterns across a golf cart hood with a uniform “blown-back” look required a map of the changing angles, so we wrapped the nose in a giant sheet of paper and made one. Working carefully over the pattern, we built the flames from both the center out and the edge in, aiming for …

Blue Flames Read More »

Nature photo decals are here! Very excited about the new branding for these outdoor grade large-as-life vinyl decals. You can find them at Twisted Sisters, the McDowell Arts Council Artisan gift shop, and Signs by Design. Head over to the Nature Hike page and check them out!

There’s this dusty sunshine in my attic. It is soft around the edges and has a worn, warm look about it. I feel the world slow its turning to match the graceful pirouette of what looks like a cloud of memories gently glinting and turning in the shaft of light. Memories. Long shadows drawn across …

Home Read More »

I remember the girls of my summersas if she were held together with butterfly glue,the one who taught me that sandy beaches make salty kissesThe one that ran like wild horsesin the hard packed sandat the edge of the surfuntil I staggered to a haltheart fluttering against my chest like a scared caged birdhands on …

Butterfly Glue Read More »

That momentwhen the bell ringsand you’re freeso for the first time since morningI have the sun on my backand my feet on the groundwhen the purr of an engineturns my eyes and my mind skywardcatching the tail of atiny silver bird dragging my focusbehind it like a balloon on a stringas it lumbers away from …

Aeroplane Read More »

I walk in my winter wood at duskAs the sun gathers up its last rays of the dayLeaving the warm air heavy with mistLong tendrils curling up from the earthAnd winding through the trees,Climbing toward the newly darkened skySpreading through limbs and across pathsDulling the moonlight to grey where it lands around meSilver light glancing …

Winter Wood Read More »

The crowd pressing together like flower petals lodged in a closing book long impatient lines filled with anticipation writhe across the slow-moving traffic air thick with caramel smell, leaving your skin as sticky as a cotton candy bath fresh-squeezed lemonade running down your throat and down your back as the thickly-woven throng jostles its way …

Drexel Fair Read More »

I forgot to pull the lever to wash away my fever as they handed me the cleaver so I thought that I would die fry cry sigh like the wind crowding through a lonesome tree that’s free and wants to be uprooted polluted convoluted like the trail of a snail in a crooked shell that’s …

The Lever Read More »

Snow fills the air and blankets the ground, blankets the hound, the home, the piles of round logs waiting to warm us, ready to be fed to the fire, fodder for the heady warmth seeping into our clothes, our hands, our cherry faces; those snow-packed gloves, scarves, coats leaking water on the hearth. Piney scents …

Snow Read More »

A really “blue” day.