"Winter is an etching, spring is a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all." - Stanley Horowitz

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

What we do is a miracle...

Here we are the entire property has been virtually stripped; it's mountains of shale and you can't even see the water. There are five backhoes on the site just sitting there waiting and ready to go... The pit looks like a meteor landed on the property then boom!


Fruition, beautiful landscapes, ground covers, habitats for wildlife - I use my imagination, walking this future landscape. I'm in the creative mode, and once you get in the design groove you don't want to stop. Honestly, when I'm in that place nothing else is there. I just listen to the site. Each person gets there in their own way, there is a different trigger for each of our creative spots and my advice is to stay in that design groove as long as you can.

Calculations

I calculated that if I work 2,000 hours a year, spending 60% in design, and averaged 5 'rips' an hour, over the course of my career, including grad school, I have done approximately 204,000 rips totaling 3,672,000 inches of trace.

Tools of the Trade

Bright yellow trace, Pentel Sign pens, back Sharpie extra fine, red, black and blue Flair pens, drafting dots and a black plastic scale - these are the tools of my trade.

Years ago, I stopped needing the parallel ruler, although I still have it attached to my drawing board. No more plastic triangles, occasional use of a circle template, the same one I had in school. I can freehand draw an almost perfect circle and parallel curving lines.

I have perfected the art of ripping a sheet of trace off the roll using my triangle scale without shifting the layers beneath. Each trace layer represents the sequence of my thinking - as I create, I rework what is beneath, a fluid and connected process. The trace layers represent the preservation of the process, saving the design as layers until a final plan has emerged.

"Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile." - William Cullen Bryant

Colors of Fall...

The beautiful hues of fall are always vibrant and energizing. There is no doubt that this is a wonderful time of year. The weather is still warm, the leaves are turning, and there is still enough daylight left to enjoy the outdoors!

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." - Albert Camus

Natures inspirations...

Part of what inspires me most while creating landscapes is my constant interaction with nature, this is what drove me into such a career. Inspirational beauty is all around us and bringing it to life is my passion.

Dogwood: Look great just about any time of year! They are mostly admired for their white or pink springtime flowers, but don't overlook the gorgeous purple-red tones they bring to your fall landscape.

Ginkgo: A slow-growing tree that adds grace to any landscape. In autumn the fan-shaped leaves show breathtaking shades of luminous, golden-yellow.

Sugar Maple: A wonderful tree that makes a big statement in fall, sugar maple offers gorgeous red, orange, or yellow end-of-season leaves.