Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Hebrews 13:1-2 The first inspiration for my novel Wild Things walked into my life on all fours. I wish I could say that I took one look at that filthy, hungry, strikingly handsome creature and saw immediately the muse he was, knew instantly that he…
At the time the cat came, I was learning to write and illustrate picture books for children. My then-husband, Sam, and I called our house the Love Bungalow, because whatever it lacked in comfort, it was full of that good feeling. It didn't have insulation or reliable plumbing. It barely had heat. A big kerosene furnace took up most of…
In time, and it took a long time, that wild black-and-white cat came to trust me, and only me, the way the fictional cat in Wild Things comes to trust my main character Zoë, who has huge trust issues of her own. I, like Zoë, was patient, and, as in the book, one day that cat just decided about me…
Once, a friend of mine who was an emerging artist at age fifty-one expressed that she always had a sense of terror when she faced a blank sheet of watercolor paper. The weight of all the years she had desired to paint, but had put off trying, came in full force to haunt her. In a flippant reply I said,…
What it is? Encaustic painting is a process of heating beeswax mixed with damar resin to around 200 degrees. You can add pigment such as oil paint or purchase blocks of wax to which the pigment has been added. The hot wax mix is applied to a sturdy substrate such as a wood panel with a brush, metal tool or…
The biggest challenge in painting is creating a composition which not only draws the viewers in but speaks to them. It is even more of a challenge when the painting has been commissioned. Before Adobe Photoshop, I layered my cryptic and undecipherable sketches. There was a lot of erasing on many mylar sheets. Some compositions came together rapidly but others…
I started making glass about ten years ago setting aside a large chunk of time to make and break glass. The first year was great. In fact, most of my favorite pieces were fresh in concept, intricate, and remain my favorites. I worked at the process eight hours a day and learned a lot. Then suddenly everything broke down. Every…