Live Oak

30" x 24"

Oil on canvas

These oil paintings explore how the native flora of the Southern California chaparral community recovered from the 2007 Santiago fire.  No one was hurt and approximately 30,000 acres burned.  The public was denied access into Whiting Regional Wilderness for a year while the area began to heal from the fire.  These paintings represent the chaparral's recovery and re-birth following adversity.

   I am an admirer of California native plants: their beauty and enduring nature are inspirational.  I live adjacent to the Whiting wilderness park and have spent years hiking, observing and sketching the diversity of the chaparral's native plant and animal species.

As a student of environmental sciences, I took part in the mountain lion study team that tracked and documented the cougar's behavior in Southern California.  I enjoy gardening both edible plants and drought-tolerant local California native plants. 

                                        Path to Sun

                                   18" x 24"

                                Oil on canvas

Lift Off

30" x 15"

Oil on canvas

                                        Detour

                                      24" x 36" 

                             Oil on canvas        

              Habitat Restoration (Do Not Enter)

                          40" x 30"

                       Oil on canvas

                            Uprooted

                                  18" x 24"

                         oil on canvas

Figurative and Landscape Paintings

The paintings that follow illustrate some of the activities and places we experience in Southern California: 

Surfacing

17" x 23"

Pastel on suede

Huddle

24" x 24"

Oil on canvas

Woodland Stream

16" x 20"

Oil on canvas

Woodland Painter

13" x 14"

Oil on canvas

Capistrano Station

11" x 14"

Oil on panel

                          Two Palms - Montage

                              11" x 14"

                            Oil on panel

                               Yellow Note - Balboa

                                  11" x 15"

                             Oil on canvas

                               Portrait of Maya

                                 9" x 10"

                             Pastel on suede                                                                                                                                          

                        Sadhu - Trabuco Monastery

                              24" x 18"

                    Pastel on etching on paper

                                   Transformers

                                   18" x 12"  

                              Pastel on suede

Shadow Cactus

18" x 24"

Oil on canvas

                        Prickly Pear

                       19" x 16"

                     Oil on canvas

                 Emergence

                   24" x 18" 

                Oil on canvas

                           Scorched

                                16" x 20"

                         Oil on canvas

                         Emerging Buckwheat   

                               24" x 30"

                            Oil on canvas

                                   Night Flight

                                     24" x 36"

                            Oil on canvas

                       Two Springs Following Fire

                                   24" x 36"

                                oil on canvas

          Boy Emerging from Deep End of Pool

                              22" x 24"

                         Pastel on suede

           Noon Light on Swimming Female Figure

                                          15" x 21"

                              Pastel on suede

                                Splash

                                     24" x 24"

                            Oil on canvas

                                       Jump

                               27" x 27"

                           Pastel on suede

                              Canyon Sycamore

                                 8" x 8"

                           Pastel on suede

                        Casper's Wilderness Park

                                11" x 14"

                            Oil on canvas

                         California Carpenteria

                                    11" x 14"      

                                 Oil on canvas

                Laguna Canyon Boulders

                                  12" x 12"

                          Oil on canvas

                               Sea Farer

                                      24" x 18"

                           Pastel on paper

                                Ali Cat

                                    24" x 18"

                    Oil and pastel on canvas