Today is Earth Day, and Friday is Arbor Day. What better way to celebrate our commitment to using sustainable materials than to include artwork about trees . . . and made from tree fiber. Can’t get more sustainable than that I always say . . ..
The material I use to make my art is abaca, an ancient fiber from the inner bark of the banana tree. Abaca is grown primarily in the Philippines, and more recently in New Orleans where it is helping to replace wetlands.
Abaca is used to make paper, nautical rope, automobile filament by Mercedez Benz, and tea bags (ever wonder why your tea bag doesn’t dissolve in hot water?). It is acid-free and 100% sustainable. Whew! Can you tell I love this stuff?
Using sustainable materials to make my nature-inspired art is important to me as it does so without harming the environment. Most commercial art materials have fillers including plastic (acrylic paint) bleach (canvas) and turpentine (oil paint). Abaca fiber and mineral based pigments are free of these additives, making them naturally sustainable and non-polluting.
Happy Earth Day, and here’s to making the world a little more sustainable every day.
Five Winter Landscapes, 14 x 8 x 1 inches each. Sold as a set.
Winter 2026 has been cold and snowy. It has brought back childhood memories of winters when we jumped off our porch into 6-foot snowbanks.
I decided to record the season by creating a series of winter landscape paintings.
I photographed tress after a storm when the snow was clinging to the branches. Can you feel the winter sun shining on the snowy branches?
I photographed the weak winter light at daybreak as the sun tried to break through the frosty air. Do the paintings remind you of the Impressionism? They loved to paint outdoors in the winter?
I like how the setting sun adds a chill to this photo. Can you see your breath when you look at the paintings?
I focused on the whites of the snow against the bark of the trees. I love how the branches are bending over from the weight of the snow.
Frosty air, chilly afternoons, snow laden branches; what is your favorite winter memory?
A lasting memory of the winter of 2026.
