Artist Statement

Family is a delightfully, overwhelmingly, tremendously, exasperatingly, breathtakingly beautiful responsibility. Being a parent is stressful, so I paint the moments between the stress - small moments filled with laughter and peace. I paint these memories with a few different mediums. I like to use crayons encausticly to emphasize the youthfulness of my subject when painting children. I love to use oil paint to show sharp details and add fun mixed media elements like gold leaf and modeling paste for texture. I choose to use watercolor to illuminate the vividness of nature. I prefer to represent moments like children exploring something new such as a field of clover or the light a glowstick gives off after a night of trick or treating. I take objects representing a specific person or point in time, like a child's beloved toy or the coffee mug your father always used, to create a "time capsule" that you can look at every day. I paint the places where the best memories are made, like homes, so even if you move away, you can always keep it close to you, as well as places you enjoy so that no matter how long ago you can look back and smile weather that's a trip to the beach or just a day at the park.