About the Art

As an artist I’m nothing if not … versatile? I used a range of media and I’m always learning something new. Here I’ll explain a little bit about how I make different kinds of artwork, including wood intarsia, block prints, and more.

Wood Art

Intarsia is a technique used in both woodworking and knitting that involves fitting different colors or pieces together to form a single, unified image or pattern—like a mosaic in relief.

In woodworking—which is what I do—intarsia involves cutting, shaping, and fitting together individual pieces of wood to create a detailed picture with depth and dimension. I use many species of wood in each piece, each chosen for its natural color and grain, which I cut out by hand using a Pegas scroll saw, contour with a Marathon rotary tool (like a Dremel), sand and finish with varnish or lacquer, then finally glue onto a backing board and frame. I usually don’t use any paint or stain in these pieces any more: I try to choose species of wood that naturally have the colors I want. There are some exceptions though, like the sexy leather bear, where I really wanted the nose and leather to be pure black, and the hummingbird and butterfly where the priority was bright, vibrant colors that weren’t possible without stain.

Occasionally I also make other kinds of wood art, like the nature-themed baby crib mobile in this photo gallery, or the moon phase coasters.

"Catriona"

This was actually my first intarsia piece, and it won the People’s Choice Award in the 2024 Mansfield Juried Arts Show

Catriona's tongue

Shaping is an important part of intarsia, and is what gives the piece it’s dimensionality and charm. I shaped Catriona’s tongue using a rotary tool and in this case painted it and sealed with a high gloss lacquer to make it look wet

Catriona in process

Catriona before finishing

Tree of Life

No paints or stains are used in this piece - all the color comes from the wood itself, even the red! I’m proud to say this one won the People’s Choice Award in the Mansfield Juried Art Show in 2025!

"Sexy Beast"

"Sexy Beast" closeup

You can see here the fur texture on the bear’s face, all the shaping and pieces that went into the hat and zips, and the texturing on his very wet-looking nose

Sexy Beast's leather jacket

This picture gives you an angle on the shaping in the leather coat, where I really wanted it to look like real leather would

"Deandra"

This hummingbird was a gift for a special person who brings a lot of color and life into people’s lives. I used vibrant gel stains to get these irridescent tones.

"Deandra" in process

Working on shaping the pieces of the hummingbird, which were all very small!

"Lou-Ann"

This commission was in honor of a much loved person who passed away and loved butterflies and yellow roses.

"Lou-Ann"

Here you can see some of the shaping in the leaves and petals that give it more depth

Crib mobile

A nature-themed crib mobile with bees, butterflies and flowers. Again there is no stain or paint here - just the natural colors of the yellow heart, purple heart, poplar, and padauk wood. I also added details using a wood burning tool and gilding and then used entirely food safe finishes on the wood, just in case! (And learned some macrame for the hanging ring)

Crib Mobile

A closeup of some of the details in the creatures and flowers in the mobile, which incorporated wood burning and gilding

Crib mobile

A closeup of some of the details in the creatures and flowers in the mobile, which incorporated wood burning and gilding

Moon phase coasters

Technically this is intarsia but it’s a little different as it is meant to be functional and beautiful. The coasters show the four main phases of the moon, out of walnut and maple

Line Drawing Designs

Stag in process (Copy)

This intarsia stag is in process at the moment and it’s huge—24 × 36”— and has almost 200 pieces

Athena Rising (Copy)

This design was inspired by the goddess Athena and symbolizes the need for wisom, justice, and protection to end child gun deaths through commonsense gun reform. I’ve since painted this on canvas.

Life and Death (Copy)

I made this line drawing combining a uterus and Texas longhorn skull to symbolize the dangers of losing reproductive rights.

Morrigan (Copy)

Morrigan is a Celtic goddess often symbolized by a crow, and she is known to be tough and symbolize victory. I was thinking of the need for us to stand up for immigrant children and families in the face of inhumane treatment.

Tree of life pattern (Copy)

This is the final drawing I made of the tree of life before separating out the pieces to turn into intarsia

Ostara (Copy)

The Pagan festival of Ostara is associated with a hare for its symbolism of fertility and birth. I created this design to speak to the need for better maternal care and rights in the U.S.

But before a piece can be made, it has to be designed! Many intarsia artists buy patterns from professional pattern makers but I draw my own on an iPad based on lots of reference photos and sketches. Once I’ve finished the complete design I have to break apart the individual pieces so I can print them on paper, which I stick to the wood to cut around so I can get a very tight fit and the pieces will each fit together as closely as possible.

However, not all my drawings are suitable for intarsia. Because intarsia is made up of lots of cut out pieces, like a mosaic or stained glass, all those pieces have to be closed shapes and I often like to draw more fluid, continuous line style things. Those drawings go on to become…

Prints

I have done various things with my designs, including direct-to-garment heat transfer printing on clothing, giclee prints on archival paper and most recently I have begun making linocuts and hand printing on paper and fabric, such as tote bags. I am really enjoying linocutting and block printing, and have realized that my style really suits it, so there will be a lot more of that coming!

Making a linocut involves (for me, anyway) drawing the design on my iPad, tracing that onto tracing paper and transferring it to a block of linoleum by rubbing the tracing paper with the back of a spoon. Then I go over that with Sharpie and carve it out using sharp tools designed for that purpose. Once it’s all carved out I’ll test print it a few times and remove any extra unwanted lines to get a clean image before I print it for real. The ink then needs to dry on the fabric or paper for at least 5 to 7 days, depending on the weather, before it is fully set.

"Pounce Pending" handprinted tote bag

I love the cat’s focus on the yarn ball, which I hand embroidered

"Cat and Bird" handprinted tote bag

"Athena Rising" DTG crossbody bag

I actually have one of these that I use everyday!

"Life and Death" t-shirt

"Cat and Bird" block print