I planted a garden to grow romaine lettuce. After a bit of research, I learned that marigolds make excellent companion plants for romaine. Next to marigolds in three colors (orange, yellow, and red), I couldn’t resist adding violet dianthus flowers. The pastel painting above is drawn from these picked blossoms. Dianthus are in the same family as carnations, with ruffled, serrated petals, but they are smaller and flatter. With all these hues, it was a vivid sight indeed.

I am pleased to share that my digital collage, Circle of Life, has been selected for the PJAS arts magazine's Summer 2026 exhibition. PJAS offers a blend of print and digital content celebrating diverse artistic expression. The name of the piece was inspired by the circular form and a palette of multiple hues: black, gray, white, and red, blue, green, and purple. This circular motif is a familiar abstract element I used in my traditional paintings before my journey into digital art. The work is further animated by layering digitally painted photographs of leaves and flowers over the scene.

Recently, I needed to update to the latest version of Photoshop. But I had a lot to learn. Many of the functions I knew so well were displayed on the screen in different locations or formats. Coming across unexpected changes was frustrating at first, but it also encouraged me to experiment and explore the new version more deeply. Iridescent Roses is my first digital collage created in the new version. It began as a study of flowers and leaves in the foreground, in black silhouette and reversed in white. They create a strong contrast to the bright, color-filled sky in a swirling motion. Together, the flowers and sky create an iridescent image.

I hope 2026 is off to a good start for you. I was thrilled, late last year, to have three works included in the Nature exhibition of Naturalist Gallery of Contemporary Art, online, Washington, D.C. This past summer, when I pulled apart an orange marigold flower from my garden, I discovered that its petals were attached to seeds. To make a digital collage, I scanned the shapes and noticed that the seed-petal combination resembled a flower's contour. Next, to convey a sense of movement, I digitally swirled bare tree branches behind the petals. Lastly, I manipulated the color scheme toward shades of orange and purple on a black background.

I am honored to be exhibiting in the prestigious Calm or Chaos exhibition of the National Association of Digital Artists at the PIX MUSEUM. My work will be on display through October 15, 2025. The curators were looking for art that was either calm, chaotic, or both. My image, Cosmic Ginkgo Leaves, is hanging on the middle column, bottom row, of the museum's virtual gallery. To create this image, I layered silhouetted photos onto a colorful, yet chaotic, composition of a watercolor-like digital painting.

My digital work has been accepted into the highly competitive Color Council (ISCC) Exhibition titled Color Shifts. This prestigious exhibition, which was held in conjunction with their yearly conference from June 16 – 18, 2025, at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, accepted only 54 artists out of 320 applicants. It's a special honor for me, as color is a central feature of my work.

Wouldn't it be nice if winter snow fell on pink, orange, mint and purple flowers? Well, I imagined it as such in my new digital print, Early Snow on Flowers . For those of us in the Midwest, winter can be lovely after a fresh blanket of snow but also becomes grey and weary as it drags on.

I am honored to have three works in the Flow exhibition at the Naturalist Gallery of Contemporary Art. It is currently on display online through December 7, 2024. The jurors were looking for dynamic art capturing movement and energy.

This pastel painting, Pear and Apricot Group, features the warm colors of yellow and orange. I added a complementary light purple-blue background to enhance its vibrancy. Unlike the following digital image, which happened in an almost accidental series of occurrences, this paste is more deliberate and traditional. While I love arranging and patterning items in collage, drawing requires close attention to proportion and accurate shapes. It is challenging, yet freeing to switch between the two media.

I am honored to have two digital collages in the Naturalist Gallery of Contemporary Art, Washington, D.C. It is a gallery that hosts guest exhibitions in photography like this one. It is also home to several contemporary artists.