I believe paintings are portals into one’s internal landscape and offer an emotional conduit for connection with others. I am interested in the ways our unconscious reveals itself in material form. I use paint to explore the tension between beauty and strangeness through flowers, fruit, landscape, still-life, and the figure.  The material of oil paint has a luscious and slick quality that I find fascinating to work with.  I emphasize visible brushstrokes and saturated colors to document my excitement and expression in painting. Guided by intuition, I use a visual point of departure as a tether for abstraction, bringing symbolic depth to my psychologically rich, expressive, and joyously colorful work. Outside the studio, I find inspiration while hiking, gardening, cooking, seeing live music, listening to podcasts, and sewing. I strive to be vulnerable and present in my practice, allowing others to connect emotionally to the vibrancy of color and shape.