The Fragile Key Series looks at how careful observation can reveal the structures that connect organisms, habitats, and ways of perceiving the world. Painted in layered acrylic on maple panel, the works grow out of field study and long-term attention to the native species around the artist’s home in Northern California. Each piece begins with direct encounter—walking the landscape, noting seasonal shifts, and studying relationships in place—and translates those experiences into visual systems that explore pattern, connection, and continuity.

The series reflects on the role of attention in a culture shaped by speed and distraction. Rather than presenting nature as symbol or refuge, the paintings offer close looking as a way to understand complexity and stay in relationship with the living world. Through clarity and sustained focus, the work approaches beauty not as escape, but as a way of seeing the structures that hold life together.

Echo in the Grain follows the path of a small stream, guided by the natural grain of the maple panel beneath it. Each feather, bone, leaf, and creature is gathered from the forest floor around the artist’s home—small details of life that are easy to overlook. Among the fragments of decay are signs of renewal: young scorpions riding on their mother’s back, a juvenile ring-necked snake curled in stillness. Echo in the Grain reflects how life quietly continues through these subtle exchanges, revealing a landscape where resilience and vulnerability exist side by side.