- So recently, within the last few years, I really have been wanting to do collaborations with other artists.

This is an example of one of them.

2003, I went to Alaska and I saw the totem poles.

And when I came back from Alaska, I had this piece.

I don't do a lot of things like this.

This is about 2013, and these are actually pages out of an early Alice in Wonderland book.

So did a lot of things earlier in my career that was painted on, found objects and that is a found frame with a piece of glass in it, painted from behind.

I used to do some torn paper things.

This is called Urban Sprawl.

This, this piece is one of the few torn paper pieces I did.

And it's painted over with oils.

I, I guess I just liked it at the time.

I really had a problem over the COVID isolation.

I thought, oh, I'm gonna be able to create so much because I'm gonna have all this time.

And it just left.

It was so bizarre that I couldn't create.

And I had all this time.

I really got into trying to analyze the difference between solitude and isolation, because I need solitude.

But isolation was a completely different thing.

It's the longest period of time that I ever went in my entire life without creating.

We were creating other things.

I mean, we were creating this space because we moved this building on and we were working in the big house, you know, the renovation.

But I just, I was like, okay, I'm guess I'm done.

I guess I'm not an artist anymore.

So this is the living room that we're redoing and we've made a lot of progress in it from what it used to be.

I did the plaster on the walls and we wanted to bring it back to life.

And so this is a room that we started in because this is a room where we'll gather and have our conversations and have it be very balanced.

Try to bring it back to the way it was back in 1885 when this property was built.

The floors are Douglas fir.

We redid the floors and we even left some of the square headed nails in the floor just because because they're square headed nails.

I mean, we left a lot of imperfections.

We, you know, nothing is perfect and the imperfections just give it more character Because now I'm really, I'm excited again about creating and color is not dead.

I'll always be vibrant with my work.

And I do experiment in different things like the Alice in Wonderland little head there.

It's always gonna be vibrant.

I paint on canvas most of the time.

I stretch my own canvas while my husband builds the frame or the stretchers for me.

I like a lot of layers.

And the painting tells me when it's done.

I mean, I just keep going if it's just so weird.

And sometimes I hate it.

Sometimes I go home at night and I'm like I don't know what, I hate this.

I hate this painting.

I just need to paint over it.

But then if I come back the next day with a fresh outlook and maybe try a different color, it it eventually reveals itself.

It's, that's prob probably one of the things I love the most.

I probably painted a thousand different things for people for whatever they wanted painted that was paying the bills that was keeping, you know, the electric company off my porch.

However, this was where my heart was, was in this style of painting.

I didn't really know if anyone would be interested in this sort of painting, but I knew that I had to paint it.

And to me what it represents is the life of a single mom balancing, juggling on horseback.

You've got the faces looking on.

I love, love, love these colors.

I love the movement and I wanted to get it framed.

And when I brought it to the framer, he asked me to promise to never do this again.

And I had stretched it on an old window frame and it's called Circus Ride.

This frame at the time of getting it framed cost more than the actual car that I was driving at the time.

Every painting that I do, I can remember exactly how I felt when I was doing it.

And I've always said about this area that it's in my bones this it's just in my bones.

This living here, coming back here after living in Texas, number one, Texas was not a place first for me at all.

And it's like when I got back here I just was like, this is so beautiful.

I can't believe I would ever wanna leave.

And I haven't.

I am actually surprised at this point that I'm still so in love with it and that I haven't run out of ideas.

I have a friend and he worked for DC Comics and he said I have this friend Jenny, who's an artist and would you like to see some of her work?

And Gary, and he's a great guy.

He wanted to buy that painting of the flowers.

And he sent me the retainer check - Batman speaking, warning all of you to brace yourselves for big news - With the DC comic envelope with Batman superimposed on it.

And so I framed it because I live in the middle of nowhere Minnesota and paint in a tiny building who gets to sell art to the retired art director of DC comic.

It's been a heck of a ride.

I've, I think some of the best things are the people that that I've met, honestly.

It's literally in my bones.

I mean, my art is, has affected me in many ways.

The journey has been very colorful.

I feel like it's never gonna stop being a complete surprise.

I feel really fortunate that I have this space and that I have the time and the ability to sit down and create whatever I want.

It's, it's wonderful and it's, it's hard but it's more wonderful than it is hard, really.

(wondrous music) (singer vocalizing) (inspiring music) - [Announcer] "Postcards" is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Windom, Minnesota.

On the web at shalomhillfarm.org.

Alexandria, Minnesota, a year-round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails, and attractions for memorable vacations and events.

More information at explorealex.com.

The Lake Region Arts Council's Arts Calendar, an arts and cultural heritage-funded digital calendar showcasing upcoming art events and opportunities for artists in West Central Minnesota.

On the web at lrac4calendar.org.

Playing today's new music plus your favorite hits, 96.7 KRAM.

Online at 967kram.com.

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