15 days until Valentines day

and there's a range of emotions to it!


Over the years I have seen girlfriends suffer under the weight of their expectations and I have watched my sons freeze up under pressure.
It's my hope that the holiday can be a fun backtrack down the alley of
cheap art supplies and tacky sensibilities. I have learned to avoid focusing on my intimate relationship and instead create gift cards for girlfriends and non expectant/ non-exploitative male friends.

Into the Heart Workshop offered

February 13th 1-4 pm...
We will build min-shrines to our hearts and bake aphrodisiac cookies.
Look deep inside your heart, explore your passionate roots and emotional baggage. We will embrace the spicy the sweet, and the possibly sinister aspects of the season.
Red is a vivid reminder that love is from the heart, even though the heart is easily broken.

Join us for another seasonal studio to stove workshop.
hosted by me and Rosemary Barrett
for more info or to reserve a spot email me at Tillystudio@aol.com

Hibernation Workshop

Exploring challenges, change, choice, roots and wishes last Sunday.










In the first of our Studio-to-stove experiences, we had a gathering of 7 to delve into bread making and play in new collage media techniques.



























Our next workshop is February 13th, Sunday from 1-4 (must arrive ahead of that) where we will create heart shrines and bake aphrodisiac sweets and spells. Let me know if you are interested soon because space has to be limited.

Hibernating journal

The bed as an alter




What happens when you close your eyes?

Planting and burying in the same strata where we have roots and dreams.


Listing things that drain me and things that restore my soul.





There is a time for every season...

As a Hen stands balanced

...On the edge of her milk crate-turned-nest, I contemplate my own off-kilter existence. I am not at all balanced... in any realm!
I can't get all my picky lists done. There doesn't seem to be enough of me to please everybody. Could it be, in fact there doesn't seem to be enough of me for me? The inner judgement is an exhausting voice that tells me I am fat and lazy and should be calling so-and-so and getting those letters written and looking for that job and... I feel so empty yet my body seems a fragile thing with murmurs, eruptions, aches and so aside from balancing the outer world with all it's fast paced to-do-lists, there is an inner world that seems out of balance as well.
I am hoping this daily practice of painting again will help center me and gain me some... down home balance!
Sewn painted paper, 4.5 x 3 inches $35 plus shipping

Ever since my marriage started failing and good friends started dying

I have made a commitment to do things differently. I paint every single day. I love my chickens. Through these two realms I have found a voice for my sadness, my courage, and my faith. Within my daily practice I recall memories and visualize evocative tones that distill symbols into paintable vignettes. My work blends text and image in humorous, dissonant, and melding ways to explore security, panic, and the mortal experience. Because I feel transient as a species, the perpetual conflict between leaving and being is evident everywhere in my work. This duplicity is also captured in the whimsical palette, the playful brushwork and lightness of imagery that lay bare the anxieties of our time. Brushstrokes, text, and nature are strategies I explore in transforming the material to be spiritual and harvesting the spiritual to material.

Here is an installation of work at the MountainCow Cafe in pine Plains, NY, up until March.

I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from college with a BFA and a BA in painting, printmaking and art history from Colorado University in 1984. Born into a family of artists, curators, and spiritualists, I spent the first 20 years as a world traveler. I am the mother of two sons. The last two decades of my life I have lived in rural Dutchess county and been blessed with a network of artists that inspire my great love for roots with wings.

Hibernate with friends!

One day only! Rosemary and I are hosting a ONE day course from 10am-5pm, January 23rd, 2011, exploring winter's opportunity for healing and creativity, settling into and exploring our dreams from the oven to the studio.

Bake your own braided loaf of 100% whole wheat bread: big, beautiful and delicious. Share stories including the contributions of Tasahara monks while combining ingredients such as deliberate intention, faith, and fresh air(after punching the bread).

At the same time you will be guided to craft your personal book using collage,text,and imagery that explores the idea of hibernation and the effects of this on our families, friends and self. Discussion will touch on the cover and inner "page" contents we create for ourselves in terms of obligations, avoidance, time and permission to rest.

At the midday break, We will have a large pot of homemade root soup to share with each other. You are welcome to bring along your own lunch.

It is Rosemary and Tilly's hope that through expressions of bookmaking, food, and story, each participant will share unique viewpoints with inspired tips for gracefully living through this season. We promise that you will enjoy lots of laughs, and take home your own bread, a book, and memories of a good time.

This is for men and women. Space is limited to 8, so confirm quickly. $50.