About The Artist

How I started painting

From a young age, I was drawing everything around me. Primarily self-taught, I learned from extensive trial and error how to use light and shadows to capture everyday life. It wasn’t until around 17 years old that I started using acrylic paint to translate my grayscale drawings into full-color paintings. Through reading, prayer, and self-reflection, I started to question what was guiding my life but found it difficult to fully express using words. My paintings became a way of exploring the deeper concepts of meaning, purpose, and happiness.

Where my inspiration comes from

The natural world will always be my greatest source of inspiration for both my artwork and my life. I truly believe that there is such beauty and wisdom intentionally hidden in nature, and by exploring the world around us, we can discover truth and peace. Heavily influenced by the Surrealism art movement, I use landscapes, plants, wildlife, and other natural forms filled with symbolism to express my ideas. I create only a handful of paintings each year. Each one is a unique and personal deep dive into a topic that resonates with me. These are the main sources of inspiration for the concepts behind my art:

Philosophy

I started my professional life as a speech-language pathologist, helping children and adults who struggle to communicate, sometimes even the most basic needs. In this field, I’ve met so many people with heartbreaking stories and have always been inspired by how some handle a life-changing event. It led me to ask some serious questions, like, how do we handle trauma? How do we handle loss? How do we find happiness and meaning even when the world seems to collapse around us? These are some of the questions I try to answer with my paintings. I’ve found a lot of guidance in learning about philosophy from both western and eastern thinkers. In general, I gravitate towards philosophy that has an optimistic view of life.

Religion

As a practicing Catholic, my faith greatly influences my worldview and my artwork. While Christianity undoubtedly has the greatest impact, I love learning about other religions and the similarities we share. I believe that there is a universal truth in our world that we all catch a glimpse of throughout history, and this can be found in most religions. I love incorporating these ideas in my art.

Mythology

While the fantastical stories of magic, cryptids, and legends always spark awe and wonder, it’s the use of symbolism to convey deeper meaning in these narratives that inspires me and my art. I love how symbolism can be used in various art forms to speak to the human soul across cultures and time. I have plans for a future series inspired by myths and legends that will dive deeper into these inspiring stories.

 

More about me

I live in Cincinnati, OH, with my husband, son, and pet corgi. Other than painting, I enjoy rock climbing, learning languages, and spending time outdoors.

Artist Statement

I believe that growing closer to nature reveals profound wisdom about life This underlying idea guides my paintings, where natural elements veiled in symbolism come together to tell a story hidden in a nature scene. My painting style uses loose brushwork and bold color palettes to create simple metaphors that are often described as spiritual and poetic. Although my art may dive into somber topics, the overall tone is always uplifting. The concepts for my paintings are influenced by philosophy, religion, and mythology.