Connect What is your favorite type of art to create?

Though my subject matter varies, the deep desire, the ultimate goal is to find the spiritual nature in art making. I am a painter, I love working with oil, oil mediums, metallic leaf, as well as building surfaces with other materials to create textures. This might be pieces of stone, broken china, crystals, encaustic beeswax or found objects. I generally work on pieces over a long period of time and develop images through exploration.

Where do you find inspiration?

Mother Nature is my primary inspiration. Long walks with my dog along the Rio Grande, in the forest, and at higher altitudes along the crest road above the Turquoise Trail in New Mexico fuel my imagination. I also look to the history of sacred arts and artists of indigenous cultures who inhabited the Rio Grande valley over a thousand years ago. I am an observer of sky, earth, light and the transitions of the seasons. An avid reader, words, even when the outside world seems dark, touch my spirit.

What would you do with $25,000?

I would begin a new body of work immediately and use the funds to pay for materials, carpentry support and studio rent. Half of the $25,000 would go directly to purchase materials: canvas, wood panels, gesso, new brushes, oils and labor to contract out the building and delivery of panels, and framing. The other half I would use to pay studio rent during the first year process.