Water’s Movement

I don’t believe in magic. I believe in the sun and the stars, the water, the tides, the floods, the owls, the hawks flying, the river running, the wind talking, they’re measurements. They tell us how healthy things are. How healthy we are. Because we and they are the same. That’s what I believe in. Those who learn to listen to the world that sustains them can hear the message brought forth by salmon
Billy Frank Jr.


Gaia is more than ever well named, because if she was honored in the past it was as the fearsome one...who knew that humans depend on something much greater than them, something that tolerates them, but with a tolerance that is not to be abused.

                                    Isabella Stengers



Water’s movement sustains, enlivens, and destroys. Flowing rivers, frozen glaciers, and cold alkaline oceans are a measurement of the living Earth’s health. My current and past works engage with water’s movement. The topographical “Pool” paintings embody the stacked life and abundance of perpetually circulating tidal zones. The gestural “Spill” paintings evoke the accelerated change and fluid boundaries as glaciers melt during this time of global warming.

Recent landscape paintings represent the shimmering rivers and surrounding environments where Snake River salmon begin and end their lives.  These mixed media works are meant to share the “message brought forth by salmon” through encounters with land significant to their migratory life cycles and integral role in marine and riverine ecologies.


Sunbeam Dam, Watercolor, graphite, and pastel on paper, 45x29 inches
Spill Series, Dry pigment, gum arabic, and acrylic, on canvas, 4 x 2.5 feet
Confluence of the Middle Fork and Main Stem Salmon Rivers, Watercolor, graphite, and pastel on paper, 42x50 inches
Spill Series, Dry pigment, gum arabic, and acrylic, on canvas, 4 x 2.5 feet
Spill Series, Dry pigment, gum arabic, and acrylic, on canvas, 4 x 2.5 feet
Marine, Acrylic on paper, 22 x 30 inches
Marine (detail), Acrylic on paper, 22 x 30 inches
Pool Series, Oil on canvas, 6x6 inches
Pool Series (detail), Oil on canvas, 6x6 inches
Pool Series, Oil on canvas, 6x6 inches
Pool Series (detail), Oil on canvas, 6x6 inches
Bear Valley Creek, Watercolor, graphite, and pastel on paper, 32x 60 inches