What inspires me · Ongoing
Ohio
My best friend lives in Ohio, so this is somewhere I keep returning to rather than a single trip. What I love about it is the seasons. The same creek that runs bone-cold and clear under bare gray branches in winter is green and loud in spring, heavy and shaded in summer, and then in fall the whole woods turns yellow overhead. Four completely different palettes out of one patch of ground. These photos are from the autumn visits, and I'll keep adding the others as I go.
The creek running over shale
Flat stone ledges, a little step of falling water, and a fallen branch resting under the surface. Every layer in that rock is time, and the water is still working on it. I think about that when I'm deciding how much to smooth something and how much to leave.
Ferns gone to bone
Pale, dried ferns laid out across a dark wet log — that cream against near-black is a color pairing I keep using. Nothing about how they fell was arranged, and I couldn't have arranged it better.
White fungi across a gray stone
Tiny clustered fungi scattered over a mossy gray rock like beads someone spilled. This is the scale I love working at — the detail you only find by stopping and crouching down.
Under the ledge
A sandstone shelf hanging over the creek bed with roots gripping the lip of it. Weight held up by almost nothing — I chase that balance in a piece more often than I admit.
Yellow, all the way up
Maples turning above a floor already thick with leaves. The whole woods was this one color. When somebody asks me where a warm palette comes from, it comes from standing here.
Other journeys
Want a piece that carries a place you love?
Tell me about the trail, the trip or the room. I'll build toward that feeling with materials I've gathered myself.