Gallery
Title: A Portrait of Abigail
Medium: Watercolor, gouache, acrylic, pen, pencil, water soluble wax pastels
Size: 14"x17"
Description: This portrait of Abigail, my husband's twin sister, is a celebration of her dedication as a professional printmaker, who through her art brings awareness to the conservation of native Hawaiian species, land, and culture. In this piece, I sought to honor both her natural beauty and the profound impact of her work.
Surrounding her are native Hawaiian plants, emphasizing her connection to the land. The background features a pattern that echoes a print she created, inspired by the GPS tracks of conservationists working to preserve our forests. The three Kiwikiu flying across the composition represent her artistic efforts to raise awareness of endangered and extinct native Hawaiian birds.
Title: To Preserve and Protect
Medium: Oil on wood
Size: 11"x14”
Description: This painting was created in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, at a moment when the vulnerability of childhood felt especially sharp. The image shows my son standing beside his collection of stuffed animals — his personal army of comfort and protection — clutching his favorites in hand.
The title plays on the familiar phrase “To Serve and Protect,” reframing it to reflect the fragile and essential need to preserve the innocence and safety of childhood.
In this piece, the stuffed animals stand as both guardians and symbols of a world children build for themselves — a world we, as adults, have the responsibility to shelter.
Title: After the Applause
Medium: Watercolor, pastel
Size: 22"x30”
Description: This painting captures the quiet space between creation and recognition — the moment when a child’s act of making is complete, long before (or after) anyone calls it “good.” As adults, we often attach meaning, value, and permanence to creative work. Children, in contrast, create with freedom — without expectation, and without holding on.
This piece reflects both the beauty of that fleeting process and the quiet shift that happens when playful marks are seen through adult eyes.
Title: Maukanani Road
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 9"x12”
Description: This painting depicts the road that leads to my home. I began the piece wanting to break from old habits and push myself to work differently, so I set rules for the process: I limited myself to simple brushstrokes and avoided blending
These self-imposed limits pushed me to focus on shape, value, and color in a new way. The result is a painting that holds onto depth and realism, but also allows space for looseness and abstraction — a balance I continue to explore in my work.
Title: Greensword
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 18"x24”
Description: I am inspired by the adaptability of the silversword alliance species. Endemic to Maui, the greensword (Argyroxiphium grayanum) is part of this alliance — a group of over 50 species, all evolved from a single ancestor, each adapting to survive in vastly different habitats.
I saw my first greensword 15 years ago while hiking Pu‘u Kukui, a low-light bog shaped by constant rain. I instantly recognized its connection to the silverswords I had seen in the dry, exposed crater. Standing there, I imagined the long line of greensword plants that came before it, each one adapting to meet the challenges of its environment with steady, quiet resilience.
While painting Greensword, I followed the same self-imposed rules I used in Maukanani Road — limiting myself to simple brushstrokes and avoiding blending — allowing the structure of the process to guide me toward a more intuitive image.