Artist’s Statement

Painting and making art are essential to my very being. If I cannot create, I feel an almost unbearable anxiety and loss of self.

In a world of chaos, we easily get wrapped up our careers, and forget to pay attention. In the rush to tackle a never-ending list of errands, emails, and fast approaching deadlines, people find minimal time to live.

I didn’t take that path.  

I take each day to observe the dynamic environment that surrounds me, and channel this passion and energy into painting. I am inspired by the places in which I have adventured and called home, my current landscape, and all the experiences along the way.

There is so much beauty in the world, but we must take a moment to pause and look around to appreciate it.

In order to achieve the depth and the variation of color in my art, I paint multiple thin layers, shifting focus to other work while each layer dries, adding heavier paint toward the end of each piece. Not only is this process efficient, but it also gives me a chance to step away from pieces where I feel stuck, or that I may be overworking. When I return to the canvas, I bring a new perspective.

My work is unique because it combines realism with an abstract and mystical quality that results from adding almost impossible brush-mixed colors and unexpected deep layers that play with the mind.

My painting captures the paradox in which we live: we have an increasing appreciation of our natural surroundings, but our environment is simultaneously being tragically shaped by climate change and other human-made destruction.  

I want others to experience what I feel when I work and am transported to the very place that I am painting. With the vision and vitality I breathe into my art, I seek to evoke an emotional response when viewers look at each piece.

To paint is to endure and to feed a passion that I will cultivate for decades to come.

I am here on this earth to create art, and as long as I am physically able, that is what I will do.