Have you ever met a radicchio?

Ridiculously beautiful radicchio at Tomgirl Farms, February 2026. (My photo, taken as reference that morning.)

After a bit of a hiatus, I got out of the studio last February after seeing Emma Kruch’s delicious photographs of T Beller's garden at Tomgirl Farms. I had to go see the farm in person and was lucky enough to sit with this beauty (Goriziana, 'Voglia') for most of a morning, just staring at that deep magenta turning purple and almost black in the folds, and that absurdly bright green shouting next to it for attention. The painting below of this little lettuce (technically a chicory) was the first I made for myself after a different, long, consuming project ended, and the first piece of a series I now call ‘Garden Calls’.

We unveiled that other project (the Napa Quake Mosaic) last August at RAD Napa's Action Art Fest, 11 years after the earthquake gave us all a good shake (and the Fest is back this Sat 8/29 on Action Avenue, see you there!). Since then, I have been on the quiet side, saying goodbye to one chapter and opening the next. After over a decade of managing collaborative community projects while building my studio business, I have returned to my first love, painting.

These days, I'm mostly focused on commission work but also making time for Garden Calls. The garden calls me, and I call friends with gardens and small farms and then pay a visit with my little painting kit. I’m not sure what this work will become yet, but I’m excited to spend time in these small tended places. Being around plants reminds me that some things continue to grow, no matter what.

If you have a garden you'd like to share, let me know, I'd be thrilled to visit. And if you want a painting of your own garden, I have two commission slots open this fall.

T’s Radicchio, watercolor & ink on paper, 2026