Artist Statement

I am an oil painter who focuses on landscapes that hold memories and emotions. The places I recreate are places of significance to family and friends, and memories we have together.  Using oil paints to capture a dreamlike nostalgia that welcomes you into my memory. Even to evoke memories of similar moments or feelings you may have experienced in your own life. I hope to turn some of the bittersweet emotions of times past into a joyful work of art that lets the memory live on beyond memory.

Inspired by impressionism, both stylistically and thematically, I am drawn to the idea of the ephemeral moment as well as the expressive painterliness of the impressionistic brush stroke.  Its ability to capture a single moment in time, often of everyday life. I try to balance accuracy and detail with expressive and painterly brushwork and texture. This balance in expression and detail is in hopes to provide enough to set the scene while leaving a dreamlike and ephemeral quality that invites the viewer to feel kinship. 

Music plays a big part in my creative process. Through all family memories there is always music in the background and these memories become imprinted between the lyrics and melodies. As I paint, I listen to the playlists from those moments, and they will often influence and contribute to the mood and emotions each piece. Often, I'll start a piece by writing lyrics for the specific feelings and memories on the blank canvas and paint over them. Sometimes allowing the words to poke through the layers of paint or covering them completely, letting it be a little secret between myself and the painting.

 Oil paints provide the versatility and consistency to sculpt memories into the two-dimensional surface. Starting with gestural layers of thinned paint, building up the shadows then transitioning into color; layering and molding the paint to create form and depth. Leaving the paint thin and transparent in some places and in others building up thick textural brushstrokes that sculpt the forms into reality.