Tree of Life Painting

“My paintings are created by incorporating a variety of media, including acrylic, pastels, oil pastels, pencils, and charcoal to build layers and movement into each piece. Inspiration for my work is taken from observing unique patterns of color in nature as well as everyday scenes as they pass by and become abstracted and mentally catalogued. I have always spent a lot of time in nature, observing weathered surfaces, colors of stones, striations in earth, moss, wildflowers, and the rough native terrain of the Texas Hill Country. Music plays a significant, almost synesthetic role in the process of making a painting. Mental images take on a softer and more lyrical appearance as they are translated onto the canvas with each mark, color choice, and brush stroke. I first began painting after visually seeing hues of the music I was listening to - patterns of color formed, then a composition in my mind and I was compelled to paint what I was experiencing. Studying music from an early age, then later playing in a jazz band, taught me the ability to tune into the non-thinking brain when creating. When you remove the page of music to attempt to improvise, you enter a more uncontrolled and unstructured space. I find this a strong parallel to creating a visual work of art. I draw from an intuitive, spontaneous space when painting. I try to show a visual representation of vibration and frequency in my work. Getting into a flow state mentally opens a pathway to create authentically. For me it’s all about tapping into that flow state and creating work that exudes joy, beauty, and sometimes the unexpected. Everything is energy, finding the right movement, vibration, and fluidity of making a composition that draws the viewer in is just capturing the energetic signature of the work on a canvas.”