I have always loved trees. Climb them, hug them, draw them, watch their branches sway gently in a light breeze or dramatically in a wind storm, see the subtle color changes of their developing spring leaves and the dramatic burst of color of the flowering trees - or just sit on a quiet day taking in the beauty of their form, the pleasure of their shade.

Loving turned to creating twenty two years ago and was influenced by the fact I was in my "natural" stage. I started by using all natural foliage that I gathered and preserved myself. I refused to use paint, wire or any man made material. Since most of what I made was either white or brown, the appeal was, shall we say, limited! But a couple of people did buy them and that gave me a sense of confidence and purpose. Eventually I relented and ground up colored chalk and sprinkled it on the foliage to infuse color. Needless to say, it didn't work very well but it was a step forward. Someone in our miniature club gave a session on twisting a tree frame from wire. It took several more years before I was willing to introduce wire into my all-natural tree making, but when I did, the results were way better, the possibilities way greater and the creation of species-specific trees was born. From that time, so many ideas rushed in that I was obsessed with making trees for about a decade. While doing one tree, a dozen others would be urgently calling me to figure out how to create them.

Today, I am more relaxed with the work and can focus on the pleasure of the unfolding of something lovely coming out of my hands, something that started with a mess of wires, some plaster, a roll of tape, a bottle of glue and a big pile of natural foliage of some kind. Something that usually, amazingly, turns out to be beautiful (in my eyes, at least.)

So welcome to my forest. Some trees are in stock, some I must make for you. If you have a favorite tree or specific tree in mind, give me a description and/or a photo, and I will love creating for you. And thank you for coming into my shop.

My mission is to flood the miniature world with beautiful trees. When I started, there weren't many (and mine weren't that great either.) Now there are a number of artists who make beautiful trees in a variety of ways, so my goal is being fulfilled. But to further this goal, I started developing ways people could own my trees less expensively.

First, I started selling completed frames that people could foliate for themselves any way they wanted to. A frame that is faithful to the form of the tree is the most difficult part, and this way others could have the satisfaction of making that frame become beautiful through their own creativity.

Next, I realized that I could offer kits for the smaller trees, and have kits for dogwoods, white birch, weeping willow, weeping cherry, and live oak with Spanish moss. There are kits for, potted pygmy palms (featured in Doll House Miniature Magazine in 2010) and a variety of Bonsai. The Bonsai kits will make up any way you wish, not just as the picture on the kit, and I've included a sheet of photos of a variety of possibilities to get you thinking.

Finally, it dawned on me that I could put trees that didn't quite suit me in one way or another on sale. Something I didn't admire might be just what someone else would want. If you are interested in a sale tree and want to know more about it, please contact me and I'll tell you its story.

So welcome not only to my forest but also to the range of offerings you'll find there.