Wayfinding, mark making, and seasonal changes thread a parallel course through much of my monotype work. An early Backroads of the Blue Ridge map is a constant inspiration as are my memories of the fear and exhilaration of being lost on mountain roads. This is a landscape that connects me with the past, with fragments of memory, and stories of those who lived long ago.

The marks and tracks of animals, nests and tunnels, wind patterns, seasons, and weather are distinctive ways of considering the landscape and capturing a moment in time. Years ago, following a storm, I collected the remains of a downed pine tree whose branches were beautifully etched by bark beetles. I cast latex skins. made rubbings, and clay impressions from these marks. In 2013, a colleague taught me to make printing plates from gelatin, and I knew immediately that this surface would allow me to capture those marks as well as many other wonders from nature.