Recently, my work has been inspired by painted wooden cut outs of different objects. They are folksy, simple, and colorful.

A perfect example are the wooden couple below. My grandparents have always had these hanging in their home, from their historic house in Brownsville, Tennessee to their farmhouse outside of Memphis, to the retirement community my grandmother now lives in.

Objects like this that I grew up looking at are beginning to show up in the work I'm making now.

A friend gave me a jigsaw from my birthday (which was one of the sweetest gifts). Now I can take this idea that I enjoy so much and run with it.

The first shapes I cut out were cats. I cut them with the jigsaw in my studio. Then I can take them anywhere to sand and paint. I took this particular batch to my parent's cabin near the Smoky Mountains. So much of this work has to be done outside, which I've really enjoyed.

At some point, they usually migrate to my house where I can draw on them in the company of my muse, Juicy.

The cats below were made specifically for the walls of Old City Java where they hung during the month of August. This series is called A Cat For Every Home.

You may now purchase these and others on my Etsy shop and at Rala and Nostalgia on McCalla in Knoxville.