Process

Current Projects

Spheres June 15

I have always been drawn to patterns that build up everyday structures, alone and untied to their original form they are beautiful, enchanting, mesmerizing. Working with ink helps me to block out the need to create tangible things, but along the way things become things, sometimes I appreciate the end, other times I wish I had maintained the mystery. Here are a few that I have put together over the past few days, partially as a break from all of the intensive botanical work. Also as the act of painting for me is sometimes so trying, this is the one area that I find effortless. The process is far more intuitive, and feels to me like dancing with shapes.

Peony Garden 2 June 6

These flowers evoke so many memories for me. When I am at work in a garden full of them I find myself distracted, they are a bit like hanging out with a new lover. I may be dramatic, but how can you not love a peony.

Watercolor and Sumi
10x14

Tree Peony May 28

This is probably the most challenging piece I've worked on in some time. Each petal took hours, and between those hours the normal life that happens when you are mostly relying on your income elsewhere. As a side note I love my work as it keeps me active and outside, but when it comes to focusing on a project and splitting up studio days it is often like seeing how far you can stretch a rubber band before it snaps and you lose a connection with what you were working on. But in the end I hope to work on more of these. In Ann Arbor we are lucky to have the Peony Gardens at the Arboretum with an abundant display of flowers every year to swoon over, and this tree peony was there - though I can't remember the name it had the most beautiful softness.

Watercolor
10x15 in.

Magnolia flowers May 3

I've been slowly adding to my palette and this has made a world of difference when working on botanicals. That and working towards limiting the palette when working on one piece. The petals here were the simpler part, what I found most difficult was the umber area, working with a pigment that lifts off the paper easily (Quincridone rust) - which can be really wonderful and also a nightmare. Luckily this is such a small piece, and I tend to work dry on top of a layer of wet washes. Still it was a good challenge and I certainly learned a lot.

Watercolor and Graphite on paper
8x8 in.

Iris reticulata April 7

I am busier and busier these days and trying to make time to grow a tiny garden in my little rented space, with a small bed in the shade and another that is essentially part of the drive way, and so rather full or gravel. I tend to pick up and go from place to place, but love making wherever I am beautiful, or at least trying. So last year I put some bulbs in and slowly the little garden grows, hopefully it will be there for someone else to add to when I leave...

Walks in the woods and the unfurling of Spring March 30

I work as a gardener and love the brilliance of ornamental gardening, but I have always been a lover of the unassuming plants and flowers I happen upon on my walks. The plant life not meant for us, not bred to be in our gardens and instead communicating with a world of life that we so often don't acknowledge. And so I have become enamored with this pungent plant this year. The last walk I took for reference photos was a warm sunny day, the ground was softer and the air was full of its musty rotting smell. There were flies in the air and the leaves were just beginning to unfurl. The small vernal pond in the area was full of frog songs and it was a delight to be surrounded by the non human beings of the woods.

Watercolor and graphite

Spring in the garden March 24

Happy Spring! It is hard to keep up with the all the tiny beauties popping up everywhere. The snowdrops seem to spring up under your toes and are so simple until you lift up their little nodding flowers and look inside. Watercolor and graphite

Skunk Cabbage and ramblings March 9

Working in watercolor and graphite - I have always been the most comfortable with drawing, and love combining my two favorite mediums. It feels natural and appropriate to have the new life of the Skunk Cabbage flowers emerging from the drawn graphite leaves of last years debris and soil.

I hope you find some out in the wild, and if you don't maybe something else will pop up in your outdoor travels. Today I went out to check on these and was surprised by the loud knocking of a Pileated woodpecker :)

Skunk Cabbage and the first flowers March 5

I have walked through the woods in late winter every year since I was young looking for skunk cabbage flowers. I remember at the house I grew up was a marsh out back, where my mom first showed me where to look. Finding these is like finding little gems, pungent ones, but so unique and such a surprise in February. The photos for these watercolor and graphite illustrations were taken at Nan Weston Preserve, and another one that I honestly always forget the name of - off some dirt road in Washtenaw County - a tiny park nestled between farm fields.

Sketchbook February 8

It seems impossible to ever know a thing - over the years I have spent a lot of time staring into flowers but am still a beginner when it comes to knowing the botanical names and parts. I am constantly in awe of the mechanics of plants. Like this Dogwood I am working on with it's true flowers these little inconspicuous clusters in the center of the bracts that I called petals for so long :)

Lily Pond Figurine Feb 3

Witch Hazel and capturing ephemeral moments Jan 28

I am slowly learning the power of painting with a piece of life in front of me - for years I mostly painted from photos, or purely as expression of patterns and figure. Only in the last few years have I been really interested in plant studies. The more I delve into this universe the more I find myself wanting to capture a gentle combination of intense detail, with a softness of simplicity. It is hard to find a balance between wishing to focus on all the tiny structures, and letting the plant have a voice of its own. At what point am I stopping the dance of the plant and turning it into a skeleton of its true self.

The Witch Hazel was a hard place to approach this, a unique plant, odd with funny leggy flowers in clumps on bare branches. It was a good challenge, and I wish my cutting was still going strong or I would give it another try - but here we are - finished and just in time as the flowers have wilted and the photos I took wouldn't do it justice as reference.

Botanicals for a New Year Jan 22

Witch Hazels, Hamamelis, the small trees that flower when you least expect them. Walking through the late fall woods in Michigan you can find the native Hamamelis virginiana with its diminutive yellow flowers. A pleasant surprise as the rest of the woods are putting themselves to rest for the winter. In gardens you can find a variety of wildly bright cultivars like this one with long boisterous legs that flare out into the cold of February like fuzzy stars. This one - I don't know what specific cultivar it is - was just buds last week, until I clipped a stem and stuck it in water to let it show off a bit early. Heres to a New Year, and hope for a brighter future for all.

Rudbeckia and Rambles Oct. 6

The daydreams of a gardener...
Gardens for Humanity. What would your ideal city garden look like? I always am craving more green space, but spaces that are architectural in some sense. Places that blend the building site and the land. It is related in some sense to a few places that I have lived, and the feeling of living in an environment that has somehow grown from the earth rather than being plunked down like legos on turf. Check out Arcosanti and you will see where I am going with this. I hope to someday see more spaces like this, for more to feel at home in.

Fall Botanicals September 30

I have three main areas that I love to work in and each satisfies a particular need as I work to create. The botanicals are my childhood dream job - I remember one summer, I was maybe 15 or 16 - thinking about college and taking a summer art class through the U of M. It was a really special opportunity, one of those things I took for granted but was also genuinely excited about. We had a life drawing course and a scientific illustration class. It was at a time where the idea of getting a job drawing or painting illustrations from life for a journal or such wasn't an illusion, computer graphics programs were still in their baby years. It is something I still dream about.

And now - sitting down to a beautiful plant and looking at all of its small details, thinking about what is it that makes this plant what it is and how to express this in a way that is sensitive to its being - I love this. When I do my other work, it is quite different from this place of creation, but grows from this initial love of sitting and looking at our natural world, reveling in it's inconceivable bounty of wonder and exquisite beauty. - Peace

Coneflower Series 5x6 In.

Summer Botanicals August 17

July 19 Water 1. 2. 3

July 16 Water One Thinking Vessel

The more I walk through this life the more I believe in a better world, living systems that are like ecosystems breathing together. I hope this is reflected in the work that I create. Our lives are small and we can feel like we are unable to make a difference, and somedays just giving someone a hug is all it takes. Peace

July 11th Thinking Vessels

July 6 Hellebore 3

I often wonder what is used in an artists' palette. I try to use single pigments when purchasing, but will premix large batches of color and use over and over for a period of time. As can be seen from my history, a palette will often stick around for a while as I work through what is attracting me to that color scheme.

The palette for hellebore sketches:

Yellow Sophie PY 93
Yellow Ochre PY 43
Quinachridone rust PO 48
Alizarin Crimson PR 206
Phthalo Blue PB 15
Ultramarine Blue PB 29
Viridian PG 18
Oxide of Chromium PG 17
Titanium White PW 6

July 2nd Hellebore sketches 2

The longer I paint with watercolor, the more I appreciate the water side of its nature, the subtle difference just a moments wait has on the flow of pigment. The more I let go and wait until the end to pull the piece together the more comfortable the pieces feel to me. I have trouble allowing this to happen, and struggle with the process of a piece being in it's phases, but am getting better at seeing through this.

In the end I think it helps that I have only a few hours to paint at the end of a day, and what counts is the joy of the moment and an appreciation for being able to make time for it.

Love

June 30 Evening Hellebore Sketches

Watercolor on Arches hot press. I bought a few 10 x12 blocks just before the stay at home order and they have been awesome. I feel less intimidated by quick sketches without the hassle of stapling paper down. It's a little lighter than the 156 lb paper I usually use but is also smoother so lends itself better to botanical works which have been keeping my spirit a little lighter these days. Peace

June 28th After a long silence

Bloodroot
Watercolor 8.5 x 14in

It seems frivolous in times like this to take a moment and update an old website that I have trouble with already, but want to share my love for this work, and in a more personal way than quick snippets on Instagram and FB.

Since the beginning of the stay at home order I was laid off and able to take the time to work on botanical works in the spring. Due to circumstances I am back to work in a landscaping job that allows me the joy of work in the fresh air and a moment in some beautiful gardens.

It is difficult in these times to be anything but grateful for work, and the sun on my skin, but am also angry with the inability to change things within our culture that have led so many of us to lives that are less than they should be.

I share my hope for a brighter future through my love of creating work that revolves around the sacred beauty of our woods and wild places, and figurines that are a reminder to be vigilant in our need to be thoughtful and compassionate beings.

Peace to all of you and your beautiful hearts

A New Year Feb 5th 2020

I am excited to be back in the flow of work, with a bit of time to spend doing what I love most. As life often does - I have been pulled this way and that in the last few months. This makes the time spent working on projects all the more meaningful. I have hopes for a show at some point this year, for the time being though, I am content to continue focusing when I can on learning more about my practice and sharing what I can. Happy belated New Year, and to those of you in Michigan - hopefully we see winter soon!

Watermedia
Searchers 1
5 by 10 inches

Works in progress September 21

I am slowly getting some work listed online! It's mostly to share what I have available at the moment - if you're interested in something and are local I can make appointments to meet at the studio space in Ypsilanti.

FYI - I am reluctant to have prints made as they are expensive to have done and to pay for the cost of prints plus time they sell for the same price as many of my small originals - which feels like a waste of resources and time to me. If you have your heart set on an older print though please please let me know! I have a stash of a few of them that I am trying to get rid of.

Etsy shop name LissePatternmaker

Solar-scapes - September 12

Somewhere between calligraphy and painting, there are moments when I'm drawing these lines with the brush where I feel I'm writing in some hidden language - a letter in a foreign language full of entangled loops and swirls...

Hollyhocks - August 28 work in progress

As I work more with limited color I enjoy the subtleties of texture, the soft patterns in the paper, and the nature of the ink as it plays with the water. When I find my way back to the lunar/solar series that I started in the spring there will be no end to the vibrant cadmium and hot color to burn your retinas - but for the moment I am just getting to know the ink, and appreciating how far I have to go to be comfortable working so minimal.

Figurines - July 15th

In the last phase of these figurines. I have learned a lot about the ink that I love working with so much while working on these, it's delicate nature suits my style well, but even less forgiving in some ways than watercolor. It is there to stay when you lay it on the paper. There is constant balance between the nervous tension of wanting the piece to be as I see it in my head, allowing the ink to be itself and beginning to trust the piece will do as it likes.

Etsy shop in slow motion opening May 27th

LissePatternmaker

I've been working towards moving out of making prints, and selling all original works. I have only the hand painted cards in my shop at the moment but keep an eye out for more of my ink works and illustrations in the future. Thanks again for all of you who have supported my work in the past and hope that you enjoy my work as I progress and create! I owe the world to the folks that have supported my life in painting.

A brief excursion into card making May 16th

Just a few of the 70 cards I made in the last week. This was a fun way to get ready for a small pop up show the week ahead. Playing with small compositions with little worry and just having fun - plus it means whoever winds up with a card in the mail gets a tiny original made with lots of love.

Each little 4 by 5.5 card is hand painted with sumi ink.

Figurine 3 Eclipse Details.... May 2nd

Sumi
Watercolor
Gouache

April 21st

There are three figurines in all - each corresponding to a different phase of the moon, this detail shows the outer edge of the halo surrounding the waning crescent moon figure.

Each at the moment is completely monochromatic. I am working entirely with Sumi Ink. The ink sticks I use are made by Boku-undo in Japan, and this one in particular I have found gives me wonderfully consistent linework. It seems to hold up best when worked at a certain richness - this could also have to do with the water, as well as the paper - Arches 156 lb.

Texture and Layers April 3rd

Work moves slow... April 2nd

Forget about time, about the world that you are part of outside of creating. I remember fragments of dreams like snippets of another life while in the timeless space of creation.

Harmonious Landscapes March 27th

Endless beginnings. There is a lot to what I think of when I'm working on these. It reminds me of one of my earliest drawing memories. Drawing the coastline of Great Britain as a kid, and getting into all the little bays and coves, and feeling like I had to understand what it felt like to be a shoreline in order to build the edge properly. Breaking waves, rocks grinding, wind, rain, the constant ebb and flow and thrashing, the coming and going of a surface that is the end and the beginning of places. I love that edge, the end and the beginning, a neverending dance.

Sumi ink with brush
Watercolor
Gouache

Moon Series February 27th

Winter Sale

A very low key studio sale out of my studio home in Ann Arbor.

Friday Feb. 22nd 2pm to 7pm

If you are interested in checking out work outside of those times please email me for more information.

Address:
The big green house with tiny apartments....
1604 Anderson Ave Apt 2
Ann Arbor MI 48104

Some of the works available - details to be added soon

Moon Phase 2 February 4

The last layer of sumi dries on the background. The other day I watched an episode of Nature ' Attenborough and The Sea Dragon' and the images of the ichthyosaur fossil stuck in my head, the fossil was just so beautiful. I love the interconnectedness of things, and I think this came out more in this moon phase. And maybe a little bit of ammonite love in here too, in the end, everything is everything.

Full Moon2
18in x 18in
Sumi ink
Gouache
Watercolor

Moon Phases January 25th

I have been mulling over a group of pieces inspired by our solar system for a while now. The first of the group is the moon, painted with sumi ink, titanium white with a bit of yellow ochre. The series is a great opportunity for me to play more with layering, texture, and pushing
to work more with abstraction, and my love of organic patterns.

Full Moon1
18in x 18in
Sumi ink
Gouache
Watercolor

Happy New Year! January 11

A self portrait in hand form. Starting off the new year as always with a pile of ideas and hoping to find time to work on most of them.

I'm changing some things, little things. No Etsy, I'm hoping to focus on selling work at local shops in and around MI, and doing a few art fairs. Keep an eye on my Instagram feed for updates as well. If you are interested in a piece email me.

I want to keep my art honest and my process simple, I want to make it easy to share what I create. I hope to keep learning, practicing, playing with my process. Happy New Year to all and with it bring you lots of love!

The Sun and planets Nov. 27th

I love building beings like you would a structure. Seeing the body as shapes and edges, places for pattern and places for smooth and rough texture. It takes the idea of the human form outside of what we need it to be. I am round and square and stable and frail and rough and smooth, full of light and dark and soft edges and hard edges like mountains and rivers, all and nothing.

Watercolor and Gouache on 156 lb hot press Arches
H. 14"
W. 8"

Finished Peonies in Light Nov. 19

The reference photos for these four were taken at Nichols Arboretum in Ann Arbor, of a tree peony 'Gauguin' - that caught my eye. The last two in the series are shown at the top - they work the best for me visually.

Spirits Nov. 12

Watercolor. Sumi imk. Gouache 6x8 inches

Process Nov. 5th

When I am working on a group of paintings I am usually engrossed in it entirely. Everything that I have worked on in the past, and the pieces that I am working on now are connected - even if they seem to be different in subject matter. It is all reaching towards being able to communicate something intangible, and the process of being able to communicate this thing that has no words means having a vibrant knowledge of my medium, and a constant desire for precision through repetition, practice and exploration. I hope to share more of my process as I get better at updating here.

Never-ending Peonies Nov. 2nd

I love the guts of flowers, I love the soft chaos of peony petals, and I love that inside each peony is a different world of dancing stamen. At some point I will find another flower to fall in love with - but for the time...

Ann Arbor West Side Art Hop

For the past four years I have been participating in the West Side Art Hop Gretchen's House venue. This year there are over 40 artists participating in the neighborhood in several houses and businesses. Eleven of them will be at 700 Mt. Vernon along with myself. Come check it out! For more information, maps and venue details go to https://westsidearthop.com/

Fall is here Oct 11th

Thinking Vessel Finished

A break from the usual Oct 8th

Taking a break from the heavier works this week and working on a few seasonal pieces that I've been wanting to get to. I love botanical painting - I didn't realize how much until I worked on some peonies a year ago and fell in love with the softness and intricacy of the work. There also is nothing like working on pieces that connect you to the seasons, and capturing the momentary beauty that is before you just now. So this week I've chosen to work on some milkweed, a favorite this time of year. I am using Watercolor, sumi and gouache on hot press Arches paper.

Thinking Vessels Oct 6th

Thinking Vessels Oct. 4th

Giclee Order September 4th

Getting ready for my only outdoor show this year I decided to go ahead and do a large order of digital reproductions. These images don't do them justice, but I couldn't help wanting to share them. I always get excited when I pick up an order, all of those long tedious hours painting reproduced so precisely. The reproductions are archival - printed using archival inks on a German etching paper that gives a softness to the image but retains the clarity necessary for the images. I ordered images that are old, and some from this year - take a look at my Etsy site if you are interested. Or come see me at the Guilds Birmingham Art Fair September 15th and 16th!

Final Waterlily triptych August 7th

Lily Pad Triptych August 4th

I have been looking for a way to convey my love of texture, light and pattern in a way that both suits the medium I work with, creates something new, and feels true to my own aesthetic. I love simplicity, maybe because it is a breath of fresh air from what our lives are really like. I also appreciate that simplicity is also complex, that is takes time to really know and feel when something is just right. There must be a better word for what I have in mind. For the time I'll stick with simplicity. I am looking for the complexity of texture that is attained through years of change, like a warmly softened stone weathered by time, simple at first and complex from its timeless journey.

The base for the lily pads is a layer of pigment going from dark to light, you can tell on the edge of the pads where tiny layers of alizarin crimson, ultramarine and oxide of chromium are just barely present. The various cadmium pigments that sit on top are opaque, and bold and very unforgiving to work with. If watercolor isn't unforgiving enough. My hope is that these layers while adding a significant visual impact will lend a subtlety to a piece that could feel flat.

The line work is done with cadmium and titanium white, and is meant to give the feeling of life to the foliage. As with all of my work I love the time spent working on painting the details. The fact that the fluidity in the lines comes from the rotation in my joints and the pattern of my breath, makes the process of painting feel like an homage to our bodies as beautiful mechanisms, full of possibility.

Water Worlds July 31st

Part of my love of watercolor is its immediacy, and the sensitivity to elements that change rapidly such as the humidity of the room, the amount of air flow, how wet the paper is, and how these elements interact with the pigment you are using. I don't tend to use a masking fluid as it messes too much with the paper, so in every instance of working a backdrop I work around the edges of the foreground. This has a benefit of creating a gorgeous edge of built up pigment, a soft and natural transition from one area to the next. The sumi stick that I used for the background on these is the only one I've used, and I love its warmth. I toned the paper with a layer of yellow ochre to give it a just a bit more. Tomorrow I will begin working on the lily pads and unopened flowers, working with layers of rich pigment like in the piece below. Using a cadmium yellow on the top to get the intense glow and texture.

Harmonious Landscapes July 21st

Magnolia Figurine June 10

Working with less - May 29

'Looking In'

The piece measures 19 x 26 inches and is on view at Traverse Higher Art Gallery until mid June.

Watercolor - Gouache - Sumi Ink

Three Women

More than a few projects are always on my mind, but I haven't mastered the ability to work on many at the same time. At the moment I have two going. The first will be three miniatures measuring 5" x 10" with a background of warm lustrous sumi ink that I have been playing with. It doesn't photograph well, hence this awful scan with a funny green tinge. In person the ink has the feel of stone, and has a slight sheen.

The second project is a piece for Traverse Higher Art Gallery, and will be part of a group show at the beginning of May. The final piece will be seen there!

Harmonious Landscapes Continued

This series will be on display at the Adrian Center for the Arts as part of a group show featuring artists from Trust Art Studios in Ann Arbor.

Show Dates - February 25th Opening Reception 3pm to 5pm
Up until the end of March. More information coming soon!