My work balances the fluid, organic, and unexpected properties of paint with definitive shapes, marks, and structure in each composition. I paint responsively: the textures and marks in a painting’s current state inform what happens next in the evolution of that painting. This responsivity results in a layering effect that is built up through texture, transparency, and chance.
My work spans both figurative and abstract subject matter. Below you will find descriptions of my recent series.
INFLORESCENCE SERIES
I am painting from the perspective of a woman artist: celebrating portraits of women and exploring themes that they confront today. Many times as women, we face expectations to look a certain way, and conform our behaviors to societal expectations. We may not feel seen or heard in our lives, burying our true nature beneath the surface.
In my work, flowers, the overtly feminine symbols of beauty and youth, are used to conceal, interfere, and intertwine with the portrait. The flowers and botanical subjects are painted large, where they push the portrait back in space and break it apart, dissolving the sitter into the lush environment. The woman beneath this surface is still present, still vibrant and and still herself, trying to break through.
REMNANTS SERIES
These paintings are inspired by city spaces and, more specifically, a consideration of how we navigate and experience urban planning and roadways. For a long time, I was painting from the viewpoint of someone in the middle of this urban environment, and I used the environment as a place to explore layering texture and color. As this vein of work pushed more and more abstract, I realized that it might be interesting to change my vantage point and look at the urban spaces from above, to see urban planning as a design—both aesthetic and navigational.