"A Stand Out" - Limited Edition of 1 Photograph

I am a creative spirit, who loves to express myself through many different applications. My art is a celebration of the natural world particularly botanical. I love all things tropical, botanical, oceanic and historical. I have been taking tree and plant "portraits" for the past 5 years and try to capture each tree's unique personality in my pieces. I work with encaustic medium, and also manipulate and enhance photos by experimenting with various types of paper, pushed colours and contrasts, and play with layering inks, oil pigments, organic or found objects, graphite, charcoal, watercolours, pencil....anything that inspires in the moment actually. I am moved by the intrinsic stillness of the photography of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The finished work has a distressed patina and evokes a strong sense of time and place, while at the same time, creating an "otherworldly" quality, always with the subject standing out strong against the backdrop. It's as if the man-made world just melts away... I split my time between Cardiff by the Sea, California where I live with my partner, and Los Angeles (where I live in a garden tent that I created in the back of my property). I am also a mindfulness and meditation coach and teacher. My years of sitting in nature are what inspired me to return to the creative process. When I am not loving on my children, getting out in the waves, gardening or helping another feel more embodied and present in the moment, I'll gulp my 3 cups of tea and head out my garden work table and get down to it!