Where do you get your inspiration?

At a high level I am inspired by nature, emotion, experience, and meditation. 

The colors and forms in nature from a macro and micro perspective highly inform the color and form of my work. 

Current emotions and past experiences drive the marks in my work. I prefer to work on large paintings because it allows for more physical mark making, for more energy to be transferred into the canvas. 

Meditation informs my work in two ways. Firstly, after a session I often feel full of ideas, colors, and techniques. I have mild synesthesia, and while meditating different colors and shapes form in my my sight while eyes are open and closed. This also happens to me while getting a massage, basically anytime I slow down enough to let it into my awareness.  Music also has a strong effect on the hue and speed of the colorful forms. 

I utilize music to channel a memory or emotion, as well as to almost begin a dance with the painting, where my marks and movements with the canvas are in harmony with the rhythm of the song. 

Bouncing/vibrating pigment on the canvas came to me during a meditation session out of the desire to translate the concept of reaching a high frequency. 

The style of your work often varies, why is this?

I know many artists curate a specific technique or style to their name. That is not my goal. I am called to paint and paint in the moment. I never want my art to appear to have any sense of restriction. I paint from a place and joy and freedom. Sometimes that place calls for an extremely loose style, others times slightly tighter and geometric, it may call for aggressive marks, or soft flowing pigment, vibrant hues or earth tones.

That said, if I had to pick two words that bring all of my work together they would be: color and freedom 

As I near the completion of a painting the process slows and more deliberate thought takes place with a lot of time between marks. This is a balancing act of harmonizing the composition while maintaining its freedom. 

What is your process?

Regardless of finished style my process tends to follow this format, but it is in no way a recipe, ultimately my process is to follow my gut.

It begins with the base inspiration and is followed by color mixing. Before adding marks I close my eyes and channel the inspiration, the emotions, memory, sensory experience. Often the first mark is with charcoal or graphite and my eyes are closed. It is extremely freeing to add these marks with zero hesitation, as there is no composition yet. These marks tend to inform the reminder of the composition.

Next I begin to add paint. This might be poured, squirted, rubbed with my hands, or painted with a loaded brush, again, it’s about a connection to my gut, and getting out the energy from the inspiration, infusing it into the art.

Sometimes the first step is on loose, raw canvas. I find working on this way allows me to maintain a sense of freedom so that “restraint” doesn't make its way into the art.

Generally at this point I stop, they art sits, it dries, and it waits for the next marks. I see it in my garage studio and think about the composition, color relationships, and possible tooling. When I feel ready, I begin the process again, this time with a sliver of restraint so as to begin composing the marks into a harmonious composition. This dance happens until the art is complete, it can take weeks (Freedom Dance of Joy), months (Red Wing Black Bird), or years (She’s Alive).

This process is ever evolving and by no means a recipe.

How should I frame my art?

I have a page dedicated to explaining different framing options here. Going to a local high quality framer is ideal, but also expensive. Some of the resources listed are more economical options. 

Most of my large canvases are painted on the edges and come with mounting hardware attached to the back. They are meant to be hung without a frame. If you prefer to frame them I recommend a canvas floater frame. There are woodworkers that make these frames by hand (possibly in your community) or they can also be purchased online. 

My paper pieces can easily be framed in any off the shelf frame or you can take it to your local custom framer. My framing page has economical online options. 

As I continue to source more options I will add them to the resource page.

When will your prints be available in the shop?

Soon! I am still researching the highest quality option. Prints will always be a limited run, come with a signed a Certificate of Authentication card for the collector. For now, I will only be offering prints of large works.

What is a limited edition?

A limited edition is a limited run of the work. Once the prints sell, they are sold out and no additional prints will be made.

I feel called to create art, but I don’t know where to start. Do you have any advice?

First let go of any feelings of lack (I am not an artist, I am not creative, I don’t know anything about xxx), next go to the art supply store in person and pick a few materials that you can afford, don’t worry if they are of the lower end, creating art you can afford is better than not creating art! Make sure you have a substrate as well (paper, canvas, wood), and if you purchase paint you will need a brush or two.

Go home and clear off a table, or sit out side on a blanket in the grass. Pull out your materials, a cup of water, and some paper towels or an old rag you dont mind staining. Think about the energy you are holding, feel it, and then release it onto the page. Don’t feel that you need to paint something real, just paint what you feel, and have fun.

Of course there is a lot more to it than this such as color theory, composition, and how to build the media onto the substrate, but not knowing everything about everything is no reason to hold back. You’ll learn as you go. :)

What if I don’t like my art after receiving it?

I want you to LOVE your art. If you feeling anything but joy and excitement after receiving it please reach out to me so I can make it right. You have 7 days to contact me after receiving your shipment with any second thoughts. All shipping costs to return the art will be your responsibility and the art must be shipped within 14 of the sale in its original packing material. More on return policy here.