My art is my way of life. It is how I breathe, it describes me better than words ever could, and it is a direct reflection of who I am. It is inspired by the very essence of my life, because it is from this essence that I pull from when making art. And as I am a very emotive and passionate person, my art is as well. When I am at a low, my art weeps with me, and when I am content with life, my art is exuberant and full of vigor. I also find that my subject matter of choice – people – allows me to devote more emotion to the work and get more emotion out of it in return.

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I love the entire process of art-making. I start with a concept, and I’ll draw it out in rough sketches. Then once I form a concrete idea in my mind, I’ll use my other love – photography – to set up the scenario and photograph my subject(s). I then work from my photographs to make the final piece. I even love the process of cleaning up after I’ve finished an intense art session!

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I have been drawing since I can remember, and although I have dabbled in a wide variety of media, it is with soft pastels and charcoal that I feel most confident and comfortable. I love the matte intensity that charcoal provides, and the intensity and range of colors that I achieve through pastels. I am very tactile when I work, so I often find myself “sculpting” in these mediums by applying pigment to my fingers to then apply them to the substrate. Throughout my academic studies I have developed an extensive control over these mediums, so I can still evoke subtleties, detail and nuance, despite their sometimes “messy” reputation. My most recent artistic development is my use of soft pastels to render a variety of textures in realistic portraits of both human and animal subjects.