Painting has always been a passion of mine. I have always enjoyed working with different colors and styles. I really enjoy painting with subjects of people, animals, and nature. I hope to experiment more with my later art pieces.

A variety of drawings I have completed displaying diverse skills.

In this body of work, I was inspired by 3-D Sculpture artist Beth Cavender. She creates considerably large sculptures out of clay and paint. The names of these extraordinary sculptures are “The White Hind”, “Kept-Variation in Cream and White”, and “Beloved”. When I first saw Cavenders’ sculptures I was absolutely amazed and activated. The way she humanizes animals is something I aspire to in my own work. Her work is based on human psychology articulated through animal form to describe how we feel throughout our lives. Her sculptures have a beautiful grace to them and a darker meaning, but look so pure. I have often used animals as a form of symbolism in my work. Learning how to give animals a humanistic appearance is vital for my growth as an artist. 

In my work I wanted to create a beautiful, yet disturbing series showing animals in an emotional and physical exterior as if they were human.  We as humans go through daily struggles.  No one can physically or mentally be conscious of one another personal feelings. We may be able to decipher psychological emotion, but will never fully understand what another person has been through and how they overcome their problems. These paintings relate to me personally because I sometimes occasionally feel misunderstood and judged. As much as we want to move forward, sometimes we feel immobile and moving forward becomes unattainable. Even though these animals appear to be restrained, they also seem so delicate and gentle. Sometimes, the ones’ who battle the most are the people who smile the biggest. 

My paintings displayed are intended to be simple, pure, and not overworked. I want to personally push myself to create a beautiful, simplistic body of work. Creating a monochromatic painting with prominent subjects was my objective. This pushed me to make sure that the subject was completed with absolute detail. My first step was to complete an underpainting, then add form. I was able to work on all three paintings at one time, until I started prominent detail. This made the paintings relate more to each other in look. I painted on a roll of canvas that was transformed to look like a scroll. A scroll represents communication and sacred writings. This symbolizes the importance the paintings hold in our society. People have felt trapped, judged, and stuck for centuries in our world. We should embrace these feelings because they make us human. Both ends of the scroll are rolled up, indicating a life that is unfolding. Like a scroll, we are uncertain of the length while the past and future are hidden.