…born on this date, January 17.  She was always an aspiring artist.  Here she is pretending to be Andy Warhol.

In honor of her birthday, I would like to present a retrospective of her art, that resides in my home. Here are some examples of her early textile work. First, a self portrait on muslin and second, a self portrait batik piece.

Over the years, I have been the recipient of many artistic gifts. Twenty years ago, she made this needlepoint sampler for me.

In 1991, I received this water color with an Alice Walker quote.

The quote is:

…guided by my heritage of a love of beauty and a respect for strength — in search of my mother’s garden, I found my own. — Alice Walker

In 2002, She made this collage for me. It says "A day patched with quilting seldom unravels."

The next year, with this collage, you can see the mixed media artist really emerging.

The poem is by Raymond Carver.

And did you get what you wanted from this life even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth.

This painting which is a self-portrait, painted from a photograph is among our favorite gifts from Lisa.

I also just love these mod birds. These are an original design which took some engineering to get them to stand on those little wire legs.

This patchwork pillow is one of the first of many that she had made and sold through her blog.

This  final piece is from here latest mixed media work. I love her pieces that have birds on a wire.

So there you have it. I’d like to close with this little gem that I found. It was probably written by Lisa when she was 7 or 8 years old. It sums up what she has meant to me over the years – a loving, compassionate and very hugable daughter.

(I will help you get better and I hope you can help yourself)