After many years of looking outward to other traditions for artistic inspiration, I have started responding directly to my own life and environment.  Spending time each summer living in the green hills of Vermont and at the Jersey shore has had a profound effect on my work.  Seeking to seduce the user with the dynamic natural charm of earthenware, my work romanticizes the creepy-crawly beauty of the great outdoors. Patterns found in animal and reptile skins, buzzing energy in the late afternoon atmosphere during bug hatch, swimming through ponds dense with squirming frog eggs, awareness that the days are getting shorter and the Big Dipper is disappearing from the evening sky; these are a few of the experiences that have inspired my surface decoration decisions.  The forms of these creatures give birth to my pottery forms.  The foods that are grown in their midst gave way to their functions.  For example, toads found underneath rocks by my curious son inspire my butter dishes, while banana slugs surrounding our picnic blanket in the Redwood Forest of California inspire my serving dishes.   As I have become increasingly immersed in my observations of this energetic world of evolving substances, I have come to realize that I am very much a part of it.  Slime in the form of mucus, shedding of skin, hair standing on end at the back of my neck, and heart felt love for my son, remind me that I am exploring my own interconnections in my work.