ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Growing up in a small Northern California town, I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time outdoors, playing, learning, and exploring. I developed a deep appreciation for nature and the abundance of beauty in it. I respect our land and seas dearly, and carry a deep passion for allowing our future generations to be allowed those same opportunities.
I earned my bachelor’s degree in Art Studio from University of California at Davis, and treasure the time I spent learning how to paint under the instruction of Wayne Thiebaud. Figurative drawings and nude paintings were a preeminent theme in my degree studies until, under Thiebaud’s instruction, I learned how to master composition, and the science behind oil paints. I gained an immense amount of knowledge from his lectures and demonstrations. Most importantly, he taught me how to become empowered by my own imagination. I quickly discovered my interest in painting California scenery and landscapes. Thiebaud believes great paintings happen not from reproducing an image to look like a photograph. Rather, real creativity occurs when you use what is in your own mind (from memories or invention) and apply it to the canvas.
I later earned my master’s degree from California State University, Sacramento in Communication Studies, with an emphasis on Visual and Organizational Communications. I was enamored with two main subjects. Humans and visuals. People and their interaction with, because of, and toward, their visuals surroundings. Visuals like brands, faces, buildings, cell phones, food, and other everyday objects. I was fascinated with both the wide range of emotions and responses individuals have toward particular images, and with the level at which the images all around us, affect our entire way of being.
I admire great artists such as Mark Rothko, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, and of course my former professor, Wayne Thiebaud. Their luminous paintings, complexity and range of colors used in every work incites spirit and emotion that many other great artists only dream of realizing.
My work has been described as whimsical, effervescent and vibrant. I favor the use of zesty paint colors, contrasting and sometimes vibrating off of each other in a sometimes swirly and thick application. Collectors have expressed intense admiration for the “joy” my paintings bring to their world.
SHOWS
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