Hope
Art should be thought provoking, expressive, and enchanting. It should gather people together and yet allow for solitude and quiet contemplation. It should mean something to those who acquire it and even more to those who create it. Art should come from a place of passion and longing. Using the ordinary and the everyday my work focuses on at least a few themes: family, community, and peace. Subtlety is a method that I take to deliver messages in my art so as not to dictate what the viewer sees, but offer a slight nudge so that they might look at objects in life with a new-found affinity. I hope that they will appreciate the beauty around us and see beyond what is in their peripheral vision. More and more, nature and urban life are fusing, and we must find that place where we can coexist. Assigning human traits to animals is a way for me to deliver this message of cohabitation while adding elements of humor and self-awareness. Above all, calm and peace resonate from my paintings.
Having been brought up in a loving, close-knit family, I draw much of my inspiration from my immediate surroundings. Leaning toward the familiar, I am sometimes the subject of my artwork along with family members and friends. Depictions of comfort and relationships are also prevalent. A humble upbringing has motivated me to hold my head up and be proud of who I am. This appears in my paintings as exaggerated scales and scope. My propensity toward empathy enables me to capture pensive expressions through portraiture.
I paint on canvases of different sizes because life is full of variety. Some subjects require more space than others just as we need more space at different times in our lives. The approach taken when starting a painting is to look at the canvas and question what I would like to have painted on it. Other times, I look at a photo as source material and map out in my mind how I would like to edit it. Using my mind as the viewfinder, I mentally place the image onto the canvas and start. Using primarily oil on canvas, I have greater control over the rhythm in my paintings.
My goal as an artist is to share my experiences, break down stereotypes, and provide a comfortable place to slow down for a moment and absorb the peace around. I want to provide a calming oasis within the art world and steer viewers toward a welcoming environment.