Artist Statement

       

          I create art because it’s a familiar and progressive process. In kindergarten, every girl I drew had one eye and a semicircle of hair in place of the other. It was impossible to ignore my adolescent, observational, artistic eye. I won a “Say No to Drugs” monkey coloring contest in first grade despite not knowing what drugs were, and strutted into my weekly 30 minute art class with confidence over the course of elementary school. I didn’t take art at all in middle school, but always received compliments on the artwork I did within class projects assigned by teachers of various subjects. The fuel that drives my labor in art is this childhood validation that I received. I found something people complimented me on and stuck with it in order to keep experiencing the satisfaction of being good at something.

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        For a long time my work consisted of exclusively acrylic paintings. I started by following simple YouTube tutorials and I slowly built up my arsenal of techniques by laboriously trying to get my pieces to match how YouTube artists’ looked after only a few brush strokes. Over time, I worked up to more challenging subjects using photo references. My work is composed of a lot of layering, each layer formed with a wet on wet technique, achievable by working quickly and in small sections. Alternatively, I sometimes use water and layer wet on dry to get a softer mark while avoiding the frantic speed demanded by the previous technique. The subject of my acrylic work pays respect to animals that traverse land, water, and sky, with particular emphasis on animals most frequently befriended by humans. Over time, botanical elements have come to take up more space in my paintings as well.

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        My more recent work has largely been making mixed media collages, which allow me to shift my focus around a lot more, making the process of creating art more enjoyable. I like to make my collages fun, while still centering them around biological elements. What most challenges me in art is trying to create without hesitancy. Now that I know the technicalities of creating a successful piece, putting brush to canvas, or glue to paper scrap, is a more daunting task. What I love most about art is being able to see how my work has developed over time. I love that since childhood, I have been able to use art to celebrate our natural world. The outdoors is where I find the most beauty in life.