am pleased to offer twelve new paintings completed in the first half of this year 2004. The series is entitled “Tribute to Venus”. I would like to share a story about the first painting in the series entitled “She Sings to the Coyotes”, and share how the rest of the series came into being.

In late October of last year, I went for a long walk on the ranch where I live. It was a warm Indian summer afternoon, and I stopped to rest in the shade of a lone Juniper before heading back home. I dozed off, and when I awoke, I was surrounded by five coyotes. Three of them were sitting, one was laying down and the other was pacing back and forth me making me very nervous. I was definitely scared. Though I had never heard of anyone being attacked by a pack of coyotes in these parts, my mind was racing with all sorts of morbid thoughts as to the outcome. I decided the energy of fear might attract one of those unpleasant outcomes, and it would be best to stay calm and wait it out. I closed my eyes, took some deep breaths, attempted to get quiet inside and before I know it, I started to sing. I sang all my latest favorite songs by Eric Clapton, Moby, Everything But the Girl, Gregg Brown, and Patty Griffin. I sang and sang. Though my fear did not completely subside, it felt right to be singing over anything else I could do. After about twenty-five minutes or so, the coyote that was laying down got up and approached me, gave me a long, deep stare, then turned to go followed by the others. I quickly got to my feet, and ran the whole way home.

Over the following weeks, coyotes came around to visit me, hanging out in my yard, perching on the rocks outside my studio and howling close outside my door at night. I was never able to determine if these were the same coyotes I had encountered. Finally, they stopped coming around when my son came to visit and brought his big yellow Lab dog.

I am pleased to offer eighteen  paintings, many of these completed in the first half of  2004. The series is entitled “Tribute to Venus”. I would like to share a story about the first painting in the series entitled “She Sings to the Coyotes”, and share how the rest of the series came into being.

In late October of 2003, I went for a long walk on the ranch where I was living. It was a warm Indian summer afternoon, and I stopped to rest in the shade of a lone Juniper before heading back home. I dozed off, and when I awoke, I was surrounded by five coyotes. Three of them were sitting, one was laying down and the other was pacing back and forth me making me very nervous. I was definitely scared. Though I had never heard of anyone being attacked by a pack of coyotes in these parts, my mind was racing with all sorts of morbid thoughts as to the outcome. I decided the energy of fear might attract one of those unpleasant outcomes, and it would be best to stay calm and wait it out. I closed my eyes, took some deep breaths, attempted to get quiet inside and before I know it, I started to sing. I sang all my latest favorite songs by Eric Clapton, Moby, Everything But the Girl, Gregg Brown, and Patty Griffin. I sang and sang. Though my fear did not completely subside, it felt right to be singing over anything else I could do. After about twenty-five minutes or so, the coyote that was laying down got up and approached me, gave me a long, deep stare, then turned to go followed by the others. I quickly got to my feet, and ran the whole way home. Still shaking, I grabbed a bottle of  Tequila with a few swigs left in it, and calmed my nerves in the hot tub.

Over the following weeks, coyotes came around to visit me, hanging out in my yard and on my lawn chairs, perching on the rocks outside my studio and howling close outside my door at night. I was never able to determine if these were the same coyotes I had encountered. Finally, they stopped coming around when my son came to visit and brought his big yellow Lab dog.