I don’t think I would have attempted palm trees without being challenged to by my dear friend who asked for one of my works to fit in a specific place in her home. Dear painting owner, thanks for bending my artistic comfort zone!

My friends showed me a picture they took during a visit to the Smokey Mountains. I combined it with some of the elements Julius Shulman captured in one of his mall photos. I invented the grey triangle on the right.

During a month-long camping trip in Australia, my husband and I came down with terrible chest colds. He had undiagnosed osteoporosis, and the constant coughing caused a spinal fracture that left him confined to our lodging in Melbourne during our final week. Wandering the city on my own, I noticed the bike-lane and pedestrian symbols—images so common I usually overlook them.

In Melbourne, the layers of fresh paint over older markings didn’t line up; the older figures were stretched, warped, not quite erased. I felt a bit that way myself—flattened and shifted. Australia was familiar in so many ways, yet subtly distorted, and being sick so far from home made everything feel just slightly out of register.

These shapes are inspired by my back porch. When water falls off the roof, the rain chain creates a beautiful cascade of water tension and balance.