Gallery

Thank you for visiting the gallery. You can click on the small images below to expand them, then click forward to see detail shots and read more information about each piece. Enjoy!

In greek mythology, Demeter is the Goddess of the Harvest. It is she that bade the fruits to grow and ripen. She was worshipped, not by bloody sacrifices that many of the other gods favored, but by every humble act that made the farm fruitful.

She had a daughter, Persephone, whom she adored. Persephone was raised among flowers, and looked like one. Demeter put her in charge of naming the flowers. But one day, Hades kidnapped the daughter and stole her away to live with him in the Underworld. Demeter searched the earth for Persephone for nine days, until finally the Sun, Helios, who sees everything that passes between heaven and earth, told her what happened.

In her anger and sorrow, no seed sprang up, nothing grew on Earth, the year was unfruitful. The fields became a frozen desert, blasted and parched. It seemed the whole race of man would die of famine. Demeter declared that the earth would grow as dry and shriveled as her heart.

Eventually, Zeus saw that she would not relent, and he sent Hermes down to the Underworld to bring Persephone back. However, because she had eaten six pomegranate seeds while she was in the Underworld, it was determined that she would have to stay six months out of every year with Hades, and live the other six months on earth with her mother. Demeter declared that for the months her daughter spent in the Underworld, no grass would grow, no flowers, no tree should bear fruit, and there would be desolation everywhere. It is because of this that spring and summer turn into autumn and winter, over and over.

• 39″w x 35″h
• 2011
• TBD

This piece was intended to be hardly more than a rough sketch, but it didn’t really turn out that way. I wanted to see if I could do a simpler piece, with a one-fabric base layer under everything and then only four layers of tulle to describe the whole image. I didn’t manage to do it in four, but I think I limited myself to seven. I had originally planned to just do the whole piece in a day! Ha! It was closer to a month.

• 25″w x 23″h
• 2010
• $1,200

Until attempting this piece, I had never worked with low contrast, or a light palette, and I wanted to see if I could do it. The reason this posed such a challenge is that I typically use a lot of layers to define forms. In the darkest parts of a piece, there might be as many as 15 layers of fabric that create the color you see. In the lightest parts, maybe there are only 6 or 7 layers. But with this piece, I had to figure out how to define the forms with far fewer layers, because I had set her up surrounded by white, and if I put too many layers on top of it, it would very quickly get muddy and dark. Also, I wanted the whites to be distinct from each other, to represent different textures and slightly different shades, but I could only tint them with tulle a very little bit, or else they’d all turn into pastels. It forced me to completely re-think the way I was working.

• 50″w x 30″h
• 2007
• SOLD

The challenge in this piece was capturing the look of moonlight on the model’s skin and in the sky. I started by layering a couple of shades of shimmer tulle over the base cotton of her skin tone, to give her some glow. The moon itself is a buttery colored satin, with a layer of pearly white organza on top, and then several layers of tulle on top of that and extending beyond its borders to give it an aura.

• 33″w x 33″h
• 2007
• $3,800

This piece was my first attempt at interpreting a flower with fabric. I thought that the flower would be the hardest part of the piece to complete, but the interlaced fingers were actually much more of a challenge. The rose just kind of came together on its own. I kept the figure intentionally androgynous, which pleases some people, and discomforts others.

• 35″w x 21″h
• 2006
• $3,400

This was the first piece in which my model is portrayed in an actual setting. Most of my backgrounds up to this point were sort of amorphous draped fabric backgrounds, rather than exitsting locations. In this one, I wanted to figure out how to really make it look like the model was lying in that pile of pillows. It was interesting to see how, with each successive layer of tulle and shadow, she seemed to be sinking further and further back into her nest of cushions.
The Latin word “Voluptas” means pleasure or bliss. Voluptas was the beautiful daughter born of Cupid and Psyche, and is known as the goddess of sensual pleasures.

• 58″w x 29″h
• 2006
• $4,800

This portrait of my friend Lilyan was my first attempt at doing a clothed figure. I wanted to work with Lilyan because she was always dressed with great flair and elegance, even on an average Tuesday. The challenge of depicting the different fabrics and jewelry was a lot of fun to solve. The sequined halter top was the most interesting part for me, because I knew I didn’t want to actually cover that area in sequins, I just wanted to show shimmer and a few sequins and imply the rest.

• 36″w x 44″h
• 2006
• $4,400

When I moved up to Seattle, I heard of the Seattle Erotic Arts festival, and was determined to get in. I did this piece with that show in mind, which was especially disappointing, because it did not get in.
The hand in this piece was among the most challenging parts I’ve ever done. I’m sure it took longer than everything else in the whole piece. I almost gave up entirely several times, but ultimately, I was very satisfied with the final version.

• 54″w x 38″h
• 2005
• $4,000

In this portrait of my partner Bill, I hoped to combine a more formal, classical style of portrait with an honest and personal depiction of the man I love. The framing with gold trim, deep purple background, and head-and-shoulders composition suggest a regal portrait, but the bare chest, off-centeredness, and facial expression convey something far more intimate.

• 35″w x 35″h
• 2005
• $3,400

This piece was obviously inspired by the “tondo” portraits of the Italian Renaissance, but also by the model’s beautiful profile. The night I met her, I sat across from her at a large dinner party, and watched her as she conversed through most of the meal with the person seated next to her. Her face and bearing were so elegant and classical, the format of her portrait seemed like a given to me.

• 45″ diameter
• 2005
• $3,800

I very much appreciate discovering the many facets to a person’s character, and feel deeply honored when a friend is able to let down her guard, and allow me to see another side of her nature. This portrait captures such a moment. This model is the same one used for “Voluptas”, photographed the same evening, but in a much more vulnerable moment.

• 36″w x 58″h
• 2005
• $4,000

After a visit to Egypt in the fall of 2001, I became very interested in bellydancing and was determined to do a portrait of a bellydancer one day. I wanted to capture the graceful and sensual movement and the shimmering allure of the dancer. This piece marked my first attempt at using beading, in the necklace and the skirt, in a representational way.

• 26″w x 60″h
• 2004
• $4,000

This model was a bellydancer who I met through mutual friends, and we did a photo shoot together and got some great images. This image stood out to me as a stark contrast to the one I used for “Dancer”. Instead of striking a pose, she seemed to be lost in a moment of vulnerability and uncertainty, which lead me to create what feels like a much more personal portrait.

• 22″w x 46″h
• 2004
• SOLD

By this point, I had firmly entered my red phase, and it took me a while to get out of it. I was also doing nudes that felt a little more erotic than simple figure studies. That shift helped get my work into a few galleries, but it’s kept me out of far more.

• 35″w x 46″h
• 2004
• $3,400

My favorite thing about the photograph I based this piece on was the subject’s eyelashes. The light touched them a little, and they seemed to stand out a bit. I used two or three different shades of thread to put in the lashes, and that seemed to capture that light quite well.

• 48″w x 24″h
• 2004
• $3,200

For many people, there is a time in life when things seem to shift, and they discover that they are seeing the world around them as if for the first time. Often, this is preceded by a time of great difficulty and challenges. But once this new way of looking at the world has been glimpsed, the potential and possibilities that surround them seem to unfold effortlessly. This piece is about that time.

• 57″w x 29″h
• 2003
• SOLD

This portrait of my beautiful friend Ciara was commissioned by a collector in Florida. The dramatic composition was inspired by a detail photograph of my portrait “Joanna”, which led me to see the inherent power in such a close-up treatment of my model. I liked this image in particular for the emotional yet ambiguous expression on her face.

• 42″w x 24″h
• 2003
• SOLD

Photographing my friend Ciara yielded so many powerful and cinematic images, I had a hard time deciding which to use for her portrait. Ultimately, I chose not to limit myself to one portrait, and followed ”Ciara 1” with this second one. Her natural beauty and the close-cropped composition lend this simple and over-sized portrait an air of sensuality and intimacy.

• 42″w x 24″h
• 2003
• SOLD

This portrait was a profound challenge for me, as the model was my sister, Joanna. Because I know the contours of her face almost as well as I know my own, even slight imperfections in the resemblance were glaring to me, and had to be reworked. Ultimately, the final result was a portrait that not only looked like her, but one that felt like her too.

• 42″w x 18″h
• 2001
• NFS

With this piece, I was returning to a shaped canvas again, and wanted to try a piece where the negative space was totally flat. I had been looking at the work of Egon Schiele a lot, and was very interested in his ability to create an image of great realism and emotion, and float it in a total void of negative space. While I didn’t ultimately feel that this was a very successful piece, it caused me to start considering the negative spaces in my work with more intention.

• 39″ diameter
• 2002
• $2,700

Sometimes, in between the point of decision and action lies the Wait. It is a time of intention and impatience, a readiness to move on to the next thing. With this series, I was attempting to capture the body language of this period of waiting, expressing my own helpless inertia as I waited for a major change in my life to go into effect.

• 35″w x 50″h
• 2000
• $1,800

This was the first time I attempted to incorporate a portrait into one of my pieces. Previously, I had always left the face in shadow, which allowed me to avoid confronting the challenge of the portrait. But this time, inspired by my lovely model and the simple shapes formed by the light on her face, I captured both her expression and likeness, encouraging me to include faces in future pieces.

• 35″w x 44″h
• 2000
• SOLD

This portrait was the first of many that was specifically inspired by the work of the Italian Renaissance artist Caravaggio. His use of strong, directional light and dramatic chiaroscuro led me to the composition and colors of this piece. Once completed, I recognized that this treatment, along with the enormity of my model, made it look as though I had done a portrait of a sleeping giant, and thus it was named.

• 60″w x 36″h
• 1999
• SOLD

This series of three marked one of my earliest attempts at working with the figure in fabric, and at using layered sheers to create shadows and define forms. There was enough about these pieces that I liked to make me feel as though I may have hit upon something interesting, but enough about them that I didn’t like to push me to experiment and see how I could improve upon this start. I liked working with the shaped canvases and using their curve to echo the lines of the figure.

• 44″w x 38″h
• 1999
• $1,500 each (Small #3 has SOLD)

This piece was a commissioned portrait of a friend’s baby. I was very hesitant to attempt to capture the likeness of a baby, because they’re soft and pink, without any sharp features, so I didn’t know if I’d be able to pull it off. But in the end, it looked a lot like her.

• 18″w x 30″h
• 2006
• SOLD