Artist Statement:

I never understood why everyone couldn’t draw.  It set me apart, made me feel different.  Though, I really didn’t think about it much.  While still in diapers, I was understandably scolded for drawing on the walls and furniture.  As a child, that never was always a good thing.  Because, even thought I’d still doodled, did coloring books, paint-by-numbers, I would subconsciously look over my shoulders in fear of being chastised.  I don’t remember drawing much as a kid.  Secretly, I loved it.  It was my only self-satisfying way of expression.  When I’m painting, it calms and focuses my mind.  I love the feeling I get from a challenging piece.  The anxiety in the beginning of not knowing the outcome, to the finished painting, making me feel as complete and whole as the painting itself, sometimes.  It’s exhausting, but I also feel as if I’ve stepped outside myself, or outside my life.  I guess some people would call that a profound experience.  I just think of it as feeling normal.

Sadly, I could be distracted by the many other things I was either good at, or just simply enjoyed, not developing my abilities as artist early on.  Only in the last few years, I’ve realized it’s something that I can’t escape, or live without.

For me, painting is more about image than process -- It is about bringing a particular image to reality.  As a painter I am a realist.  But I am interested in producing paintings that go beyond realism, that invoke reality yet, are very obviously about paint and color and light.