Luna Moth

 The topic of discussion was the difference between just looking at a thing or really seeing it for what and how it is. I was talking to some nice folks about nature journaling at Bombay Hook and I pointed out the lichen on a nearby tree..bright coral orange, lime greens, khaki, aqua blue...we agreed those colors seemed typical of a Key West bungalow and not so much as colors found in a Delaware woods but there they were.  A week later I was far away from the marsh, walking along a path I had walked often as a child, an old railroad bed in Rockport Pa. The "bed" had been cut from the side of the hill so I walked right beside a vertical wall of open rockface with ferns, wild violets and columbine growing straight out . Trees had long ago grown along the way and out of the rocks and mountian springs dripped wetly over the rock allowing thick lush green mosses to grow in abundance. It is home to me and a comfort I cannot put to words, how it feels to me when I run my hand over soft moss and smell the wet earth.  I brought those two days of experince together in this picture and added a beautiful Luna Moth.  Because she is a Luna moth I gave her a lightning bug companion , one shines by day and one by night.

The original Luna Moth is double matted inside a pretty carved dark wood frame. The image itself is 11" x 15". It is for sale for $2000.00.

Limited Edition prints (300)

$80.00 Large 11" x 15" aprox

$45.00  Small 10.25 x 7" aprox

Chapel Rock

I was honored in 2010 when I was invited to be the artist in residence at Pictured Rocks Lakeshore National Park in the Upper Peninsula Michigan. I was there most of the month of October and spent many happy days walking the shoreline paths , sketching and just taking in the awe inspiring beauty of Lake Superior and the cliffs and dunes of Pictured Rocks. It would be difficult to present one picture that could sum up the best of my experience in the U.P. but I sure gave it a go . I chose Chapel Rock as it is a notable rock formation on that shoreline. The tree that grows from it is a BIG full sized Pine that feeds from a root that stretches from the rock to mainland. The enormous rock itself is sculpted by weather and time and is intriguing with the twists and turns and layers of color and odd openings. It's unreal but certainly natural. I live on the East Coast and it is only a few moments drive to find a major highway in almost any direction. As far out as I was at times on Lake Superior , I was often miles from any significant light source (read light pollution) and the night skies there took my breath away. I had forgotten what stars really look like till I saw them again this October. Dusk to dark was my favorite time to be by the water. My Chapel Rock picture tries to bring together in a somewhat fantastical portrait the beauty of the rocks, the sun set and the emerging stars as well as the colors of autumn leaves. This is just the first of many inkings to come from that wonderful trip.

This image is 7" wide and 13" tall .