The title of this collection, “The Hands of a Healer”, is a homage and a love song to this land that I call home. For years, in search of artistic autonomy, I have avoided painting the local landmarks, wanting to lean away from what felt like painting for tourism. But this Spring, sitting early in the morning with my tea, I began to feel the paintings I wanted to make start to come through: paintings with their own spirit and life, nodding towards the things I have always felt but struggled to put to words.

The power of land lies in its longstanding attunement that draws us finite yet spiritual creatures into alignment. There are many songs in a soul, and I think this place is meant for the tendering of gentle truth: a righting of broken bones, a purging of infected splinters - to be a cool touch to soothe the ache of fever, a friend that holds firm, a reflection of the Divine. I see this in the high winds roaring through wide forest, at the feet of the mountains, in the strength of Smith Rock, in the quiet of Silver Lake, in the cool clean waters, in the haunting first chill of winter in a lonely dusk. To be caught up in this ancient rhythm of undoing and setting right, a tune that the land has carried since its forming, is a precious gift.

 I made these paintings with deep intention, looking to hold the time and space of the high desert of Central Oregon. I look forward to adding to this collection, lets call this Part I.