Completed in June 2025, The Secret Forest of Words is mixed media collage and acrylic paint on canvas – 40”h x 30”w x 2.25”d. (If you’re viewing this on a phone or a tablet the images of the piece are below.)

My inspiration for the piece was always step for step in line with my original intention for this body of work as a whole. Well, I think all my pieces do of course, but there’s some leeway. I take on different themes and ideas under a broad umbrella, but this one more tightly fits right in the center of it all.

Specifically, the original idea (beginning more than 10 years ago) for this work was to elevate the sense of wonder and optimism which we felt as children – and which tends to fade as we grow older. I’ve tried to show how the innocence of youth is astonishingly powerful and breathtaking even. And how it shouldn’t be dismissed or devalued.

With this piece, it works on a few different levels. One is just the overall subject matter. The sun has just fallen and an owl is perched over a fairy sized house. The tiny young woman within is wearing a pretty pink dress and is just looking up from her book. There’s no specific fairytale that I know of which I took this scene from. But I think someone could think otherwise. On more than one occasion someone has stood in front of the piece and tried to come up with a memory that they feel is just out of reach. It’s surprising how this conjures up a strong sense of enchantment and nostalgia.

There are also the collage details. Take the angel within the owl. Her powerful wings are the owl’s plumicorns (her horned feathers). She’s strong enough (magical enough?) to withstand the owl’s beak piercing its way through her chest. And her dress becomes a tree, which then becomes an even smaller fairy house than the one below. I really wanted it to seem surreal.

The elements of collage work I did also include books and scenes with bridges. The books carry the idea of story and a make-believe world. The angel has a book in her right hand that she’s about to drop at the doorstep below. If you look closely you see there are other books already around the doorstep. There’s even a whole bookshelf of magical books and stories in the cottage.

There are 4 bridges collaged into the piece. They are there to symbolize crossing over to another side. Or at least embarking on the journey. Taking the way back to where belief was more abundant and more easily retained in your heart. In a way, books themselves are bridges. It’s all a metaphor I guess!

And finally – the poem Toby wrote (read it below if you’d like). I love how he starts with the idea of a forest within a forest. How many of us have read a story, or have been told a story, about how there are parts of the forest that normal everyday folk can’t see. There’s a part of it that hides behind a veil of magic. What’s funny is I hadn’t talked to Toby at all while making this piece. Well, of course I talked to him! But not about what I was trying to do. While I’m creating I have a pretty hard time talking about it. Like if I say what I’m trying to do, then it’ll fall apart or something. So, when he let me read the poem, I was like, “Oh thank goodness! He got it!”

Reproductions on paper or canvas are available. The original is also still available. 🤎