When the pandemic caused my studio building to shut down, I, like so many others, was forced home. After completing several long ignored home projects and with the weather warming my focus turned to my garden. Previously, I would always be torn between working in the garden or going to the studio - it was a nice relief to be in my garden guilt free. The inspiration for my new work comes from my love of gardening and my collection of colorful palette scrapings.

On the 5 by 5 inch panels, I arrange my little palette gems. The shapes bring to mind flowers, lichen, fungi things that grow.

When titling these small works I choose "love phrases" consisting of five words five symbolizing humanity, energy and balance, which coincides with the size of the panels: five inches in width and five inches in height.