Iskra Fine Art

07/16/2026

A new collector just sent me a photograph of how she framed a print from the chrysanthemum series. My own taste tends to be very minimalist, focused on creating a neutral field in which the artwork can be the focus. Yet I love this more complex designer approach. The artwork and the frame become an integrated design statement about texture and color and surface.

06/27/2026

Living with art: A favorite painting by , my dear friend Jennifer Carrasco. This painting moves around from room to room over the years. I would never have thought of putting it together with my mother‘s ceramic bowls from her travels, but studying color theory this morning it seems so obvious: warm and cool. Also: psychic repair. As heat pounds it’s anvil over Europe and the railways and schools shutter, as the Olympic Peninsula burns and Seattle itself goes from drizzly to scalding and back without warning, it is easy to be overwhelmed by a sense of climate apocalypse. While I wait for the kettle to boil I lose myself in the shoals of river water, and my mind stills. So grateful for Jennifer‘s understanding of how light falls, the color of water, and the hidden drama of minnows safe in shadow.

How do you live with art? What is the most unexpected place you keep the art you love?

06/24/2026

Summersong

06/19/2026

Today’s urban moment on a block struggling with decline. The word from our sponsor: ‘JOY IS REBELLION.’ We should all walk around with chalk in our pockets.

05/28/2026

Playground studies: scouting the golden hour with

05/26/2026

Yesterday, Memorial Day, I took on the dreaded task of shopping for hiking boots for walking the border of Wales and England and roaming around Ireland. I have the kind of feet that were born to complain. I was once on an 8 mile hike in heavy leather boots I had not truly broken in and they did that thing with a crease right on the main joint of your big toe. This was approximately 1 million years ago, with 7 miles to go before I could take them off and I can still feel the throbbing. So I tried to live in slippers for the rest of my life, but this will not work on 7 to 10 mile treks through bogs and scree. There were approximately six suitors in the shoe arena, each of them screaming Ouch! Ugly! Why me and my feet! And then I found these boots and it was a heart throb of love at first sight. Please direct your hearts and prayers that are not being spent on more important things —of which there are many— towards my feet and making it through the first flush of love to actually being able to wear these shoes 10 miles a day. If things don’t go well, I may just sit in my room in Killarney or Hay-and-Wye and paint watercolors of my boots. I will take romance in whatever form it arrives.

05/21/2026

05/19/2026

Thank you everyone who came out to Spotlight North! It was wonderful to host people in my home and share the garden. Saturday morning a Golden Kinglet appeared. This is a truly magical yellow bird — so fast and so shy that I have never been able to take a good photograph. This bird only comes two days a year, first stopping in the branches of the tree above the pond and then briefly examining the moss. Before I can grab my camera, it has flown. However brief the visit, it always feels like a blessing.

I was happy to see a range of work go to new new homes, much of it inspired by the garden and the visiting birds. This morning I am sharing images going back 20 years, of my life with birds and the garden. When I bought my home, it sat on a long mangy lawn contained by chain-link and concrete and a picket fence. It is now a wildlife sanctuary: Protect what you love.✨