Artist Statement
Everyone should have a reason to smile. For me, two of those reasons are my art and nature. I find so much joy and magic when I see flowers in real life and that is why I have them, with other natural elements, as my subject matter. When I paint I wish to bring that joy and magic to myself and to others. I often find this in the process of combining colors in vibrant and contrasting ways, feeling the brushstrokes go on to the canvas, and creating contrast between organic and linear forms. I work with acrylics on canvas as I feel it is such an adaptive medium to whatever I wish to do. I love to have flowers and natural elements as a vibrant focus that stands alone within negative space. As people see my art I hope that the joy of nature and art will also reach them and put a smile on their faces.
The Process
I love art in all forms, but I find joy in my personal expression of art using the medium of acrylics to represent some of the small beauties of nature. My process often starts with the seduction of a blank canvas. Though my canvas starts with nothing I can often already hear it tell me a story of what it needs to be. It whispers of orientation, negative space, color, and of course what subject will unfold its pedals to my brush. From there the search for reference photos' starts. I am most often looking for flowers but sometimes other things from nature call to me, such as a tree, fruit, or the movement of strata in stone. Once the perfect reference, or combo, of reference images have been found I am finally able to get messy. The actual process of painting is my favorite. I love finding the right colors, developing the form, and overcoming that frustrating part in the middle where I do not know if I will be able to get the painting to work out. Eventually my image comes together and I just have the finishing touches. This is often adding in a touch of metallic and geometric line work. For me this strikes the perfect balance of contrast and beauty between nature and the human made. After all of this I finally get to soak it all in, enjoy what I have created, and get excited for the next work.