The Orange County Artists Guild is a non-profit organization seeking to increase the visibility and recognition of area artists and crafts people.

Life at the edge of our field is always interesting and inspires my painting practice. Many of you who live in a more rural part of the Piedmont know what I’m talking about, and even if you have a small backyard you may see some of this wonder as well! Every day is a new visual experience depending on the season, the weather, the time of day. We watch the mist rise, the storms roll through, the sunrise and sunset, and the stars in the night sky. We watch the trees and grasses grow throughout the year, bloom, throw off…

As luck would have it after retiring from my day job I moved from my home of 45 years in Chicago to the small town of Carrboro known as "The Paris of the Piedmont." I love this small town and the people who are enthusiastic in supporting the Arts. Here I have continued to pursue my two loves — garden design and painting and I'm happy to say I've succeeded at both even though I'm a self-taught, intuitive painter and garden designer. I paint in Acrylics which I find most suits my intuitive style and lack of patience to wait…

“Kookaburra sits on an old gum tree...” goes a song from my childhood. Gum is a large family of Australian trees which are locally known as “Mallee.” Burls from Mallee trees are especially beautiful and, when you find them available in the US, are expensive. Because of the expense, I was unwilling to turn Australian burls for several years after I began turning. While Australia burls are expensive, it is possible to turn them into beautiful vessels. The burl shown here is a Mallee burl that cost $35.00. What one notices immediately is the highly irregular shape. The outside of…