I love texture. So much that I find myself wanting more and more, which makes texturing mediums and collage element really attractive to me. I played with both options in a recent painting I did for a friend’s birthday, based on a photograph her husband took of some leaves. I used gobs of gesso, layers and layers of translucent glazes and seed beads for raindrops.

Winter arrives and nature becomes dormant, as I have. I’ve been taking a sabbatical from exhibiting and am getting revved up for a trip to Costa Rica next month. I’ve been wanting to go to the Caribbean for many years, and I intend to do some sketching, painting, journaling and taking some amazing photos while I’m there – fodder for a new crop of studio work when I return.