Lead From the Heart Painting

First and foremost, family comes before anything. Without the support of my family, my art journey would not be possible.​“I never have silence in my life, but creating art provides me with the peace-of-mind I seek”. As a Veteran of the United States Air Force and a retired police officer, I suffer from Chronic Tinnitus (ringing/buzzing sounds in my head/ears) and was looking for an outlet to help my anxiety and stress and distract me from the “loud noise in my head” that never turns off. NEVER! Art was my outlet!​ I am a born and raised Southern Californian who currently resides in Orange County, and who found art later in life, or should I say, “art found me”.​ I am a self-taught abstract pallet artist who gets inspiration from so many other amazing artists I follow on social media platforms, so I consider them to be the art professors I never had in a formal setting. The connections I make online in various art communities, the success stories I read about, and the journeys of others I follow are what continue to inspire my own art journey. My art seems to be ever changing, which is what I love. As a Gemini, I never seem to be satisfied with just one thing or one way of doing something. I always seem to be looking for something new, which is why I gravitate towards abstraction. It gives me a level of freedom to experiment with a variety of artistic styles and expressions in a non-realist way.   My current body of work is working with heavy and medium body acrylic paint, as well as spray paint from time-to-time for accents, shading or detail. The majority of my work is done on stretched canvas, with the occasional poster board and I am starting to experiment with wood panels and sheets of aluminum. See what I mean, “ever changing”. I enjoy layering paints and creating texture in many of my pieces using a pallet knife.  Vibrant colors seem to speak to me more than mute, although it all depends on my mood, the look I’m going for and of course, the client and their desire when I commission a piece. A piece with vibrant colors and a resin finish just seems to jump out at you, which is why I enjoy working with resin when completing a piece I want to make statement with.  Through my artwork, I try to bring the noise out of my head and onto the canvas. While I make no attempt to portray what buzzing or ringing sounds may look like on a piece of canvas, I do want my paintings to give the viewer their moment of “silence” while viewing.