Feeling overwhelmed by what's happening to our natural world right now? Same. I do my small part. It's not a lot. But little things add up, that's the point. My Mini Originals feature insects, the smallest, most essential creatures in our ecosystem. #SmallThingsMatter #NatureHeals #MiniArtwork

“Western Leaf Footed Beetle” Photo based mixed media on 3x3” canvas panel. One of only 34 Mini Originals I’m releasing next week, and I won’t make any more this small again. Each one is a little reminder that small things still matter. #natureart #hopeandhealing #miniart #LittleThingsMatter

Small package. All the layers. Each of these 3x3" Mini Originals gets the same love as my larger pieces - photo transfers, acrylic, color pencil, wax pastel, ephemera - built up slowly and intentionally on a tiny canvas. #miniart #hopeandhealing#LittleThingsMatter

Traveling Companion #5 A swallowtail over a vintage map on this 3x3” canvas panel, small enough to carry or land anywhere in your home. One of the last pieces in my Mini Originals collection, a little reminder that small things still matter. #smallart #natureart #hopeandhealing

This is a powerful call - not to watch a movie- though I want to now, but to let the best of our Judeo-Christian heritage guide us again, not the farce that is in control right now. FREE gift article from The New York Times.

Opinion | Christopher Nolan’s Trojan Horse (Gift Article)

The big trick of his “Odyssey” is smuggling the core of Judeo-Christian ethics into an ancient Greek epic.

nytimes.com

Some days are just hard. The news of the latest horrible thing, piled on the one before that and the one before that. Sandwiched between a dirty house and a grocery run, with whatever goal I'm reaching for still feeling miles away. #NatureHeals #GetOutside #HopeAndHealing

Traveling Companion #1 I have a strange habit of stopping mid-hike because something on the ground catches my eye, usually something most people would walk right past. This time it was a pipevine swallowtail, already gone, resting in the leaf litter. #smallart #pipevineswallowtail #natureart

Some weeks feel like a lot. If you've ever wanted to just run away screaming for a minute - same. Each week on my email list I share one small thing I'm actually doing to soften the overwhelm and stay connected to the natural world. #HopeAndHealing #HealingArt #NatureHeals

“Family Tree” is on display now! I spent four services painting it live at church, brought it home to finish details & hung it upstairs today. It started with an idea from Romans, Paul’s picture of the family of God as a tree… #artandfaith #mixedmediaart #hopeandhealing

I walk this trail regularly and have noticed the occasional owl pellet here and there. But today I realized this is an owl dining room. For the uninitiated, an owl pellet is what an owl regurgitates after a meal: the fur, feathers, and bones that didn't digest. #OwlPellets #NatureNerd #TrailWalk

“Endurance” is the last remaining piece in my small series of fruit trees found growing in the desert at Manzanar. Standing as a beacon of hope, this tree endured in a place where our country once unjustly held families captive. #hopeandhealing #dontgiveup #healingart

Wild rose. #lifeinblackandwhite #bnwmood #blackandwhiteonly #blackandwhiteoftheday

The world is loud. Your home doesn't have to be. If you want to live with art that feels like stepping outside, bringing the quiet of the natural world into your space, gives you somewhere to land at the end of a hard day, you've found the right place. #NatureInspiredArt #MixedMediaArtist #HomeDecor

This tree endured where our country once unjustly held families captive. I see it as a symbol of the spirit of those who suffered & of those suffering in similar ways today. It’s a symbol of hope that we can free the ones still trapped & make things right. #hopeandhealing #dontgiveup #healingart

Family isn't only about blood. It's about who we choose to include. “Family Tree” was inspired by the Biblical illustration in Romans of how God adds people to his family by grace, not by merit, using the metaphor of branches being grafted onto a tree. #FamilyTree #ArtAndFaith #MixedMediaArtist

Trees hold a special place in my heart and they’re something I come back to again and again in my art. Trees are often enduring, like this fruit tree I found in the desert at Manzanar, where our country unjustly held families so many years ago. #hopeandhealing #dontgiveup #healingart

“We should be thankful for the progress we’ve made … But we should also try to spend less time stuck in our heads and more time out in the world, pursuing the kinds of activities that support mental health without making us so obsessed with it.” FREE GIFT ARTICLE

Opinion | Obsessing About Our Mental Health Is Part of Our Mental Health Problem (Gift Article)

We need to support psychological well-being without fixating on it.

nytimes.com

Almost finished.

Long before I get to this stage at Bridgeway Christian Church, I spend time meditating of the scripture passage that will be taught, being inspired with the imagery, in this case a tree comprised of three different trees and a massive set of roots. #artandfaith #mixedmediaart #familytrre

Work in progress.

“Reading Scripture made me see that Christianity was not about aligning oneself with a nation-state. Jesus was killed, in part, because people wanted him to act in [the] service of political movements.”  apple.news/A87B3W7pqRwq...

People Who Left 'MAGA Christianity' Behind Share What It Really Took To Step Away — HuffPost

“MAGA Christianity is a cult," one former church member said. "I know because I was in it."

apple.news

Botanical Echoes #1 and #2 share the importance of nature using an alternative photographic technique a little different than I usually employ. No matter what I’m doing, natural specimens is how I’m communicating. What do these pieces say to you? #naturematters #hopeandhealing #biophilicdesign

The California Pipevine Swallowtail is a creature I've been watching, photographing & learning about for years now. Their caterpillars can only survive by eating one plant: the native pipevine that grows along the creek near my home. #PipevineSwallowtail #MixedMediaArt #NativeCaliforniaPlants

A seahorse, nested where a bird should be. “Safekeeping of Miracles” doesn’t make sense, that’s the point. Nature surprises us when we slow down enough to look. Sometimes the sacred hides in the unexpected, waiting until we’re ready to see it. #naturematters #hopeandhealing #biophilicdesign

I know, talking about the insect apocalypse doesn’t exactly scream hope & healing. Here’s the thing. If every little insect matters, then every little thing we do to help matters too. The native plant you put in. The pesticide you decided not to use. #InsectArt #InsectDecline #HopeAndHealing

Your brain has a setting for effortless attention, the kind that lets it rest instead of grind. Natural forms trigger it. Trees especially. Maybe that’s why people tell me my art makes their homes feel calmer. I just paint what already does the work. #hopeandhealing #healingart #biophilicdesign

We are not visitors to nature. We are nature. We need it to feed us, to give us air to breathe, to provide materials we build our lives from. When modern life becomes too much- which it does, for all of us- nature is still the most reliable relief we have. #WeAreNature #NatureHeals #GetOutside

Let the buyer beware. The Fake Influencers Selling Wellness on Your Feed www.nytimes.com/video/techno...

Video: The Fake Influencers Selling Wellness on Your Feed

The New York Times found hundreds of A.I.-generated doctors, healers and wellness influencers on social media touting the health benefits of supplements to American consumers. Many of these hyperreali...

nytimes.com

What’s it like to bring a tree into your house? It’s an invitation, a chance to let tranquility in. A reason to stop and actually breathe every time you walk into the room. A small, living antidote to all the noise and overwhelm. #hopeandhealing #slowliving #biophilia

Nothing like getting to see wild creatures up close, it's one of the fastest ways I know to shake off overwhelm. We usually spot our local black-tailed jackrabbits from a distance, but last week one let us get surprisingly close, enough to catch on video, until his buddy came bounding in to play.