Story Behind the Picture: Flying in the Stars

Sometimes the most beautiful pictures are the ones we dream in our minds. I created "Flying in the Stars" on a particularly dreary and cold winter day after the boys and I spent the morning snuggled under a quilt, reading Phillip Pullman's "The Golden Compass." One of the characters is an aeronautical explorer who flies his hot air balloon into fantastic adventure, and Pullman's vivid words carried me into a world where we too could soar amid the clouds and stars. Later that afternoon, as the boys napped peacefully in their rooms, I started combing through my ten-thousand image library until I found the pieces to layer together in this collage. It's my hope that when you see this piece, you escape for a moment from the traffic and telephones and to-do lists. Let's go flying in the stars together.