The process of pushing, pulling, lifting, and layering has always been necessary in my art-making. Whether I’m working in heavy oils or brushing on transparent watercolors, the physicality of the medium calls and reinforces my need to paint.
Landscape has been a genre that I periodically return to and find is a vehicle towards peace and healing, of finding sanctuary. Recreating a landscape alone is not enough for me. I am seeking out unlikely locations for chairs or the insertion of another human-made element, like a tea package or a tether to re-contextualize and explain my current state of being. The landscapes stem from places I’ve traveled, hiked, or run - ultimately environments where I’ve personally found grounding and peace. The chairs hold a story for me - in the work they both hold space, inviting you in, but also depicting a sort of instability. Sometimes they are a source of needing to sit in an uncomfortable moment or season, like at a crossroads.
A growing meditation practice, as a way of nurturing my anxiety, was the catalyst to save the tea packages. I often transfer them onto paper, sometimes staining with tea, or even coffee, and intentionally leaving the ingredients reversed, adding texture and a kind of textual code to read through the work. The landscape is often paired with the tea or chair for its color, ingredients or the purpose of the tea. I layer the chairs and landscape over the tea package, using vibrant colors and linear drawn marks that imbue a sense of figurative energy in the paintings. Rooted in subject matter that venerates objects and places, I’m asking you to stay a bit longer, look deeper and to slow down. I’m seeking both comfort and showing discomfort at the same time.
Landscape has been a genre that I periodically return to and find is a vehicle towards peace and healing, of finding sanctuary. Recreating a landscape alone is not enough for me. I am seeking out unlikely locations for chairs or the insertion of another human-made element, like a tea package or a tether to re-contextualize and explain my current state of being. The landscapes stem from places I’ve traveled, hiked, or run - ultimately environments where I’ve personally found grounding and peace. The chairs hold a story for me - in the work they both hold space, inviting you in, but also depicting a sort of instability. Sometimes they are a source of needing to sit in an uncomfortable moment or season, like at a crossroads.
A growing meditation practice, as a way of nurturing my anxiety, was the catalyst to save the tea packages. I often transfer them onto paper, sometimes staining with tea, or even coffee, and intentionally leaving the ingredients reversed, adding texture and a kind of textual code to read through the work. The landscape is often paired with the tea or chair for its color, ingredients or the purpose of the tea. I layer the chairs and landscape over the tea package, using vibrant colors and linear drawn marks that imbue a sense of figurative energy in the paintings. Rooted in subject matter that venerates objects and places, I’m asking you to stay a bit longer, look deeper and to slow down. I’m seeking both comfort and showing discomfort at the same time.