The mantra in the sky is the Vajra Guru mantra OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUM and is pronounced by the Tibetans, Om Ah Hung Benza Guru Pema Siddhi Hung. It is said that this twelve syllable mantra carries the entire blessing of the 12 types of teachings taught by the Buddha. (Further info in the book The Tibetan Art of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche. The second mantra in the Panchen Lama's hands is the compassion mantra OM MANI PADME HUM (Om Mani Peme Hung). It embodies the compassion and blessing of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas

I constructed this painting depicting the assembly that is inside my mind and heart. I hope the Tibetan culture can be preserved. China is currently remodeling Tibet in its own image by sending Chinese people, stores, cultural and educational standards into Tibet and the Tibetans are becoming second class citizens in their own country.

A small, simple oil depicting rocks that look like turtles that I found at Wupatki, Arizona and a Hopi Kachina Maiden. . The original intent was to bridge the Iroquois legend of Sky Woman who landed on turtle's back with the Hopi Kachinas in Arizona. These guardians are locked in a timeless embrace. This painting was created the summer of 2003 while my father was dying of cancer and I unconsciously represented my veiled mourning in the desert with sky and rocks. I only discovered this correlation after I finished the painting and showed it to a close friend. The legend of Sky Woman falling to the earth with no place to land, reflected my own inner feelings of becoming an adult orphan. It is as if the earth beneath me had been pulled away, leaving me to embrace the unknown with faith, love and change. It was the love of family, friends and Creator that created a safe landing place for me. On our first scouting expedition to New Mexico, we traveled to first mesa on Hopi land and bought this corn maiden kachina. The beauty of living in Albuquerque is that I feel we are in the center of the southwest and accessible to its entire splendor.

This is a whimsical look at myself. I am joyfully trance dancing to honor the mountains, Albuquerque and our Creator. I dance with bended knee to humble myself before Creator. I am dancing, about to lift up in flight and I am flying my dreams instead of a kite. The three women represent the multiculturalism of New Mexico. We are in a spider web that catches and manifests our dreams and it is connected to a weaving of the other three sisters; corn, beans and squash that nourish our bodies. The loom is the doorway to the dreamworld as weaving is one way to trance and connect with the source. It is also representational of the three Greek Fates; Clotho, the spinner; Lachesis, destiny dispenser and Atropos who cuts the thread of Life.

The coyote is the trickster who somehow tricks us into our destiny. He reminds us that the journey is just as important as the destination. He is blue as he is a spiritual helper. The horse is a mustang and represents the horses that were brought to the new land by the Spaniards. The cross represents dying but it is part of a cycle with the dragonfly and the butterfly that signify resurrection. I believe there is life after death and that death means going home to our true self. Death can also be looked at as symbolically killing the old self in order to grow a new self. The butterfly is the new, unfolding self. When John Peterson died, Sue saw lots of dragonflies and butterflies but when I painted this, I did not know that they would become their own little tribute to wonderful John Peterson. Both the butterfly and dragonfly were in my garden as I was birthing this painting. What I love about NM is the solitary expanse of beauty and space in which I can either be alone with my thoughts, prayers and Creator or with the wonderful people who live here. Teaching art to children was a dream I had in college but then I followed my other dream in NYC, to do graphic art. It was nice to come home when we moved here; home to myself, my art and my teaching dream. Lost in dance and communion with the Great Mystery, I imagine Albuquerque as she used to be before roads and buildings. I think of the past and all of the people who also gazed at the wonderful watermelon mountains, calling this home. For me, Albuquerque is a melting pot city in which many beliefs live together in harmony. It is my home. Happy Birthday!

When I first heard that John had brain cancer, I decided to honor him as a gratitude painting for all he had given me. I feel blessed. John Peterson was a gift, like manna from heaven. I met John on May 9, 2001 when he became the curator at SBCC. It is very rare to know exactly when you met someone but John was a landmark, a beacon of light. He gave me the gift of being a colleague and the gift of friendship. Not only was I excited to work with him but an exceptional friendship developed. His presence in my life spurred me to reach my artistic potential. He believed in the power of art and supported my art and the art of my art students. He was a gift to artists as he made things easy especially in helping others manifest their artistic visions and dreams. He was a facilitator for greatness and he believed in limitless possibility. Only a great person can manifest greatness in others. He was a man who walked his talk and that is a rarity and yet another gift. Even in hospice he wanted to gift back to them by painting murals on the walls. Thanks to John, I met Connie. What gifts. I treasure my friendship with Connie. John gifted Sue and I with ideas for an art show we discussed in hospice called "Eternally Becoming" and gave us ideas for new paintings. We must not let his death deter us from continuing to reach our highest potential as artists and human beings. John's final human gift to us is the gift of bravery and his example of love, devotion and surrender. He left us with a blueprint for our own lives as we too will pass from physicality to embrace formless form; as we take our place dancing in the light. He is still teaching us how to be better people. I know in my heart we will see him again as he has gone first to prepare a spiritual community in the next realm, our original home to which we all return. Thank you Shaman John for all you have done for us. In my heart there is an empty kiva and it is filling with my holy tears for John. I will honor Shaman John by gifting others with that which he has gifted me.

In 1989, I was in Sedona on a back trail with a guide and came upon this cliff overhang and pool with petroglyphs so I have been saving this special power place for an appropriate painting. I envisioned John in it as a Pray-er....then I was spiritually directed to put Connie in the pool (I did not know that Connie uses the pool image in her own shamanic journeys), surfacing to the plane he is now on to establish a permanent connection and to show that love transcends physicality. She is the Blue Goddess, a different color than John to show the two realities. She is blue, emotionally blue, Hindu deity blue. The hawk is John's power animal and his companion on his journey. Although the death process is a solitary journey, we are never really alone as we have our loved ones, and spiritual guides supporting us. Connie's Stellar Angel is above the ladder that the soul ascends upon death.