Painting is the key to my secret garden, and behind the hazel cast windows, I find a way inside. The way down the rabbit hole, to the Under-land of my soul. Drawing began my obsession with the visual storytelling of my thoughts, and over the last 15 years I have experimented with many different mediums, pastels, pencil, charcoal, and finally graduating to paint. Even today I am still trying to find the best way to express those thoughts and feelings, and at times my style never seems the same. Perhaps because I haven’t found myself yet. I’m still looking, but by painting every chance I get, I get a little closer to reaching the places of my inner self, a place that I can’t find using words. The happy accidents that give life to the emotionally charged paintings I create are more rewarding than merely the completion of a work.
When I look at my personal art, I don’t see a particular pattern, yet a favorite concept of mine to practice is the human face. The human form in and of itself, is beautiful and striking, drastically different from one body and personality to another. I try to translate the energy of those souls into the expression of color and the way the paint is applied using a palette knife or deliberate, hard strokes of a brush. The only parts of my art that are conscious is the application of color and construction of shapes. With influences as diverse as Kahlo, Dali, Ryden, Milne, Warhol, and Van Gogh, but not limited to Matisse, and Pollock, new synergies are created from both complex and simplistic meanings and ideas. Ever since I was a pre-teen, I have been fascinated by dreams, and underlying realities of our own personal perspectives. Tales of mythology primarily focused on humanity and personal struggle, have always resonated with me deeply, especially as someone who struggles with crippling anxiety, and depression. Beneath the physical guise of happiness and vibrancy, my work comes out in expressions of sadness, anxiety, and feelings of restlessness converged with moments of joy, and light. Different possibilities. As shimmering forms become transformed through emergent and academic practice, the viewer is left with an insight into the possibilities of our own future as a society, but also the battle we wage within every day.
Come see her work at Erie Art Gallery till June 23rd