Combining the 10 of wands and the 9 of cups, I turn the weight that I carry into overflowing abundance. Even though sometimes I feel like I’m being crushed under the weight of the world and of my mind, I know there is beauty in it. Even when I lose sight of it, I know the light won’t be gone forever, sewing season will come again, and I persist. When I persist and surrender to the flow, light pours from within, filling not just my cup but the cups of everyone around me.
The only consistent thing in this universe is that everything is constantly changing. No matter the highs and lows, the cycles keep turning and clinging to a state, and hoping it becomes static will only lead to stagnation and suffering. Unexpected good things happen who feed the karma wheel with love. And if you are in a state of experiencing pain, know that there is still a time beyond this pain.
Shadow side: you may be trying to break toxic personal or generational cycles you don’t feel you’re making much headway on. Things are moving even when they feel like they’re not. This, too, shall pass, and while patience may be hard to find, hold onto hope.
Darkness follows wherever it walks.
A shadow that dwells,
And tendrils that talk
Here in the mind,
Reality is fragile,
And some corners are…unkind
It comes in dreams,
When I stray to far
Towards tears and seams.
And in nightmares, too,
That get too dark,
And I lose the light of the moon.
Though in my dreams it haunts me,
I can’t help but think
That maybe it’s Friendly
24x36”
Oil on Canvas
The Empress understands how to mix the magical with the practical. With the help of the creative forces of the universe, she uses her passion and the tools at hand to build the world she wishes to see. She beckons you to mix the practical with the magical, for you are more skilled than you might give yourself credit for. Tap into your emotional center and passion, don't be afraid to let your heart shine and pour everything you can into it.
Shadow side: Beware of pouring yourself empty for something that isn't refilling your cup. Starving yourself figuratively or literally for anything is unsustainable and even dangerous. Show the world your heart but still keep it protected.
What if our demons aren’t enemies?
What if they are protectors, creators?
What if they are healers?
What if they’re musicians in a band,
playing the soundtrack for our life?
They only react to what you see,
what you feel, and what you dream.
What if they were forced to play
things they didn’t like?
They tried to yell
they tried to fight
and then they tried to hide.
It wasn’t your fault, how you grew
the voices put into your head
shame spreads in the mind,
it kills them inside,
and makes you wish you were dead.
But what if we’re gentle and ask them their needs?
What if we held out our hand?
we might actually find
that if we are kind
our demons are helpers instead.
48x24”
Acrylic on Canvas
2022
Available
Inspired by many different Appalachian/West Virginia landscapes and the emotions I feel when experiencing their beauty. As the state of the Mountain Mamas, you can look at many hills and mountains and see her stretched along the horizon. The flowers are typical for that time of the summer, with echinacea, yellow coneflower, mullein, milkweed, wild roses, cardinal flower, jewelweed, and goldenrod.
11x14”
Acrylic on Canvas
2023
Available
It is a piece about using art to process inner demons and how it gives us a safe space to freely express the sides of ourselves that we try to hide away. When you're a sensitive neurodivergent blob masquerading as a hyper-independent impenetrable chaos dragon, it's impossible not to take on extra weight, even if it's the mask you wear getting heavier and heavier.
This past year I found myself questioning all of my behaviors and beliefs. I questioned everything I knew about my identity, trying to sort out what is Mask and what is me. I noticed that after I started the unmasking journey, little …quirks… bubble back up to the surface that I forgot were there.
Art gave me the space to be able to explore all of this territory as if it were new, as if I'm getting to know myself again for the first time.
This process of shadow work taught me to remember to call myself into question and process behaviors, trauma responses, and social conditioning that don't resonate with me and no longer serve a purpose for me to be a functioning human, and rebuild the neural pathways to heal instead of hide.
It reminded me to exorcise regularly.
2022
This small print is perfect for the person who collects a lot of art or is on the move <3 matted and packaged for the safety of the print, sure to bring you joy for a long time to come!
11x14”
Acrylic on Canvas
2022
Available
The mask gets thick, and I fill the cracks with mud until I can’t recognize myself. I’m spiky, but the spikes are pointed in, and every time I move, they poke in further. Many of the things that I thought were shining facets of my soul were actually prismatic fractures of shattered glass.
Struggling with chronic mental health problems is absolutely exhausting. It’s been a fight ever since I was a kid to not succumb to my darkest thoughts, and the idea that this will continue on for as long as I inhabit this body gets so daunting and exhausting that sometimes I wonder how I’m gonna make it and find any kind of lasting tranquility or healing in it…
On the flip side… I feel like my experiences in shadow inform my understanding of the beauty of light and allow me to feel it in a way that a lot of people struggle to, and that’s the beauty I try to capture in my art… those moments of shining clarity are the ones that I continue dredging through the mud for… I guess they do say beauty hurts, huh?
2022
16x20”
Available
What was once a raging bull,
destructive and strong,
now finds peace in the rhythm,
playing cello all night long.
Painted at a Bella’s Bartok show 2023
48x36”
Acrylic on Canvas
2023
Available
He sat among the flowers and faeries
After a day of talking to trees
From darkness, he learned to see beauty
and is now a source of peace.
Energy grows in his bones
and a sound comes from his bow.
He draws it back
In time, on track
Like breathing, he plays in flow.
He plays his tunes that echo through the hollers
and the hollers always sing back.
The mist shines gold in the setting sun
Mountain’s glow can’t be matched
Though the creature was created through violence
The war has long been over
So now he wants to walk the mountains,
protecting the trees and waters.
You’ll hear him in these ancient hills
in the crickets and the frogs
you’ll hear it come from cracks in rocks
and under fallen logs.
The faeries dance in the day’s last light
and he plays his last little tune
the trees start to shine
like the stars in the sky
under the rising moon.
Painted from a view of Camp Creek State Park in southern West Virginia after a week of rain.
16x20”
Acrylic on Canvas
2023
Available
What a special energy in this city.
Spanish moss and ferns hung from the tree,
branches spreading as wide as can be.
This tree has stories for centuries,
and if you listen, you can hear her speak
Children played around her roots that reached,
and in her low-hanging leaves.
I climbed her branches
So I could see
If I could feel her energy.
Painted while busking on Jackson Square, February 2023
This small print is perfect for the person who collects a lot of art or is on the move <3 matted and packaged for the safety of the print, sure to bring you joy for a long time to come!
24x24”
Acrylic on Canvas
Available
The flowers symbolize different facets of love and passion. The rabbit brings luck and agility. I wanted to show how the snow and ice sparkle like stars in the sky and the prisms of ice crystals in the snowy fields. Being able to stare this deathly cold in the face and see a heavenly wonderland is a gift that not many have, yet it is often the lifeblood of those who have it. A unique feeling of freedom accompanies the board we strap to our feet, a sense of invincibility and humility. No one comes out unscathed, but is that not part of the beauty?
I have never felt the flow like I have snowboarding. Never have I trusted the universe like when I’m weaving in and out of trees, some separated by barely the width of my snowboard. Pushing the limits of control in a way that if I lose it for a moment, disaster will strike. It’s a love unlike any other. The adrenaline makes me feel a way I wish painting could. Anyone who understands the feeling of pushing the body's boundaries in extreme sports understands this flow and sense of limitless freedom.
16x20”
Mischtechnik on Canvas
2020
Available
This is one of the first paintings I started after lockdown. It calls for healing not just physically, but socially, emotionally, and culturally. To not simply put a bandaid over the wounds, but to bring the shadows to light and come to terms with ourselves and each other as perfectly flawed, squishy, yet resilient humans. I wanted this painting to call community together and use our collective power to manifest the best possible reality moving forward.
Om tara tuttara ture svaha
The White Tara Mantra was taught to me by Thangka painting master, Romio Shrestha. Upon integrating it into my practice, I felt compelled to paint this vision of healing I originally had during a meditation at one of Amanda Sage’s workshops. The White Tara is compassionate and heals wounds of the body and mind. While we still have a long way to go, I think we can leave this world a better place.
8x10”
Acrylic on Canvas
2022
Available
Not quite of this world
There is wonder in this place
I feel, and I see
I have always been
Yet newly manifested
gently exploring
This place is the same
But I see it with new eyes
New soul, new body
Stretching in the sun
dancing slowly with the rays
This piece of peace sings
I’m not whom I thought
Reflected in the water
Stares something greater
This small print is perfect for the person who collects a lot of art or is on the move <3 matted and packaged for the safety of the print, sure to bring you joy for a long time to come!
16x20”
Acrylic on Canvas
2022
The trees bend towards her majesty
the birds sing to her arrival
The Queen appears with a merciful smile
She’s happy to know of your survival
She graces you with shining rainbow light
You are her bright and shiny knight
She looks at you with loving eyes
She’s come to give you a surprise
“Be gentle, pet; now you may rest
for your body must be weary.
This task is not
for the faint of heart,
I’ve seen your might shine clearly”
Your legs give out under the weight of the mind
tears start streaming from your eyes
“Rest” is foreign, but you go no further
Rest is violently given if it cannot be nurtured.
The Queen smiles and says goodbye
Even in pain, you know she’s right
you lay your head and say goodnight
You’ll need your all at the next fight.
This small print is perfect for the person who collects a lot of art or is on the move <3 matted and packaged for the safety of the print, sure to bring you joy for a long time to come!
14”x18”
Acrylic on Canvas
2022
Autumn leaves color the trees like fire
Mycelium fruits from spores.
Magical pyres
And thorny briars
Open ancient doors.
The water moves with gentle waves
Cold air blows from the North.
From distant plains
Here walks the Fae,
Watch as one comes forth.
The spirit consumes the offered fruit
and grounds itself to trees.
Its feet take root
as branches shoot
And now it is set free.
This small print is perfect for the person who collects a lot of art or is on the move <3 matted and packaged for the safety of the print, sure to bring you joy for a long time to come!
16x20”
Acrylic on Canvas
2022
Available
What is identity?
What is authentically me?
I was told openness isn’t vulnerability
And wondered about how to be vulnerable with myself.
I thought that sculpting myself of shiny metal into everyone’s fantasy
would somehow form what became me.
I sit by my fire just inside where the guardians stand, staring into the dark.
“Come back” it beckons as the cracks in the layers of masks creep and crumble.
I know what it means to go back
To navigate the winding tunnels under the mountains
To peel back layers of mud caked onto fractured crystals of the mind
Facets of my soul frozen in time
And walls threatening to cave in.
I know the moment will never be perfect, but if I want to heal,
I need to get on the boat and face it.
Just do it.
