Come collect the cactus fruit, I’ll write the poem
25 x 41″
oil on ponderosa pine with teddy bear cholla cactus skeletons, rusty metal, 2024
Honey in the desert
60″ x 14″
oil on ponderosa pine, with teddy bear cholla cactus skeletons, rusty metal and objects collected while hiking, 2004
The Gentleman
50″ x 18″
on ponderosa pine with cholla cactus skeletons, 2023
My cousin is a kinkajou
60” x 23”
oil on ponderosa pine, with teddy bear cholla cactus skeletons. 2024
Teporingo and Zacatuche
66” x 30”
oil on ponderosa pine, with teddy bear cholla, tree cholla cactus skeletons and juniper. 2024
Agave Girl
68″ x 36″, oil on ponderosa pine, with rusty metal and screen, copper, nails, 2021
Where the Cougar Sleeps
48 x 40”
oil on ponderosa pine, with teddy bear cholla cactus skeletons. 2023
Epiphany
25″ x 8″
oil on linen with bones and wood
2022
Call from the Desert
48″ x 18″
oil on aspen and pine, pyrography, copper and cholla cactus skeletons
2023
Agavita
15 x 9”, Agave leaf tips, Arizona cypress cones, gamble oak acorn caps, sea urchins, mussel shells, banana yucca pods, 2021
Let down your hair for Little Bear
23″ circle, bones in copper tray, 2014
Encantada
29.5″ circle of bones, porcupine quills on copper tray, 2011
When I’m hiking I often come upon owl pellets. The owl catches its prey (usually a mouse, vole or woodrat) and swallows it whole. Owls cannot digest fur, teeth and bones, so the following day, before he goes in search of his next meal, he coughs up a pellet. I collect the pellets, dissect, clean and sort the bones and make bone mosaics out of them.
Paleogirl with ponytail
25.5″ x 17″, bones in rising bowl, 2006
Chacho Catalpa, El Capitán
31″ x 16″, bones from my cats in wooden rising bowl, 2015
When my beloved tomcats Catalpa, Chacho and El Capitán died I buried them and painted gravemarkers for them. A few years later I was thinking of their beautiful skeletons hidden beneath the ground and decided to dig them up and make something out of their bones. A memento mori to celebrate their lives.
Four braids and a squirrel
12″ x 24″ x 2.5″, bones found in owl pellets in antique rising bowl, 2012
Sea urchins
18″ x 10″, porcupine quills, bones, rattle snake skin on soapstone, 2019
Three volcanoes, a kiss
38″ x 14″, bones in rising bowl, 2006
Memento mori
10.5″ circle, bones, sea urchins, seaweed on wooden plate, 2019
PaleoCat
38″ x 14″, bones in rising bowl, 2006
I’d marry you in a minute
11” circle sea urchins, bones, bettles, lobster and crab claws, dead man’s finger sea sponge on wooden plate, 2019
Raven on the roof
42″ x 6″, bones in wooden tray, 2006
Dusty day
8.5″ x 10″, bones in rusty dustpan, 2012
