I’ve been face to face with a mountain lion while hiking in the Sierras, surrounded by sharks diving in the South Pacific and frozen with terror staring at the wide open jaws of a cottonmouth snake coiled by my ankle in a cypress swamp in Georgia. Conversely, a school of curious squid in Fiji touching my mask with their tentacles left me smiling for days. Wild encounters are thrilling and unforgettable. I spend time photographing wildlife for inspiration.

I rented a studio surrounded by acres of ponds in Georgia and sketched an alligator in a bathtub, in an attempt to face my morbid fear of them. A tame alligator is wishful thinking. I canoed regularly on the pond in front of my studio, nervously. The estate I lived on allowed hunters to shoot the animals and I imagined inviting all the animals to hide in my bathroom including the alligator. A boy holding a bluebird furthers the illusion of safety in a frightening world. The idea that prey and predators could peacefully hang out in one small room is a childish wish. I’ve continued the series with Catskills Treehouse and have drawings for several more in the series.

A friend in the coast guard warned me about paddling under trees, because cotton mouth snakes can drop out them into boats. She said that half the people that happens to shoot their boats full of holes then jump in with the gators and the other half just jump in with the gators.

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