Artist Note:
I am a filmmaker that turned to painting in 2015 to cope with the loss of my mother due to a terminal illness. The last night I spent with her an afghan laid across her (pictured above). I felt a strong connection to the blanket, knowing that it was comforting her. I studied its shapes and criss cross design. Soon after I began to paint abstract and expressive grid-like images, inspired by the visual and emotional symbolization I found in that afghan.
Artist Statement:
The paintings I create explore energy and emotion through layers, shapes, and expressive colorful elements. Grids and aerial like views and patterns appear regularly in my art as they help me visually create surface shapes, structures, and pathways to explore. Ultimately, my style and technique evoke images of unique expressive color meditations. My work is generally abstract and non-referential, though the work visually has similarities to maps or landscapes.
Watercolor is my primary medium. I find I can experiment most with it, because of its fluidity and transparent layering qualities. It also lends itself well as a tool to create the contour lines for my grid-like compositions, which is the first step in making my paintings. I occasionally use fluid acrylics to make these lines too, if I am looking for a more permanent medium. I use paint pipettes to drip paint on the surface and then I move the paper around to push the paint forward. I also sometimes draw with the pipettes, where I am slowly releasing the watercolor as I drag the pipette across the paper. I let some initial lines dry and then I add more lines, often layering on top of lines to create a sense of dimension. I finish the art by painting in the shapes. Because of the nature of liquid watercolor/fluid acrylics and the methods I use to create my shapes, my images are one of a kind.
I will often incorporate ink, gouache, collage, or graphite into my art to experiment and add texture. Recently, I have started to make stamps with woodblocks and foam to build simple printmaking into my practice. The shapes I make with these stamps are from ink, acrylic, or watercolor. Printmaking helps me create variations in the shapes and patterns that form my images. As I build upon this, I am looking to experiment so that I can layer colors and lines in my artwork even further. I feel that this goal compliments my interdisciplinary approach to art-making and motivates my curiosity and ambition to try new things.
I have also been expanding my shape-based work into acrylic paintings on canvas, which you can view below.
I am a filmmaker that turned to painting in 2015 to cope with the loss of my mother due to a terminal illness. The last night I spent with her an afghan laid across her (pictured above). I felt a strong connection to the blanket, knowing that it was comforting her. I studied its shapes and criss cross design. Soon after I began to paint abstract and expressive grid-like images, inspired by the visual and emotional symbolization I found in that afghan.
Artist Statement:
The paintings I create explore energy and emotion through layers, shapes, and expressive colorful elements. Grids and aerial like views and patterns appear regularly in my art as they help me visually create surface shapes, structures, and pathways to explore. Ultimately, my style and technique evoke images of unique expressive color meditations. My work is generally abstract and non-referential, though the work visually has similarities to maps or landscapes.
Watercolor is my primary medium. I find I can experiment most with it, because of its fluidity and transparent layering qualities. It also lends itself well as a tool to create the contour lines for my grid-like compositions, which is the first step in making my paintings. I occasionally use fluid acrylics to make these lines too, if I am looking for a more permanent medium. I use paint pipettes to drip paint on the surface and then I move the paper around to push the paint forward. I also sometimes draw with the pipettes, where I am slowly releasing the watercolor as I drag the pipette across the paper. I let some initial lines dry and then I add more lines, often layering on top of lines to create a sense of dimension. I finish the art by painting in the shapes. Because of the nature of liquid watercolor/fluid acrylics and the methods I use to create my shapes, my images are one of a kind.
I will often incorporate ink, gouache, collage, or graphite into my art to experiment and add texture. Recently, I have started to make stamps with woodblocks and foam to build simple printmaking into my practice. The shapes I make with these stamps are from ink, acrylic, or watercolor. Printmaking helps me create variations in the shapes and patterns that form my images. As I build upon this, I am looking to experiment so that I can layer colors and lines in my artwork even further. I feel that this goal compliments my interdisciplinary approach to art-making and motivates my curiosity and ambition to try new things.
I have also been expanding my shape-based work into acrylic paintings on canvas, which you can view below.
