Trixie's in Hamtramck Print

I'm a painter based in Chicago. My two passions have always been image making and music, and after receiving a BA in Art and Design from Columbia College Chicago I became a self-taught saxophonist and toured the country with my band. During this time my art practice was largely limited to areas related to music, such as posters and album covers, but my focus has returned to painting as a passion in its own right. I love the staggering versatility of paint as a medium, and in my work I enjoy using radically different approaches from one piece to the next. Travel is a huge source of inspiration for me. I've been lucky to do a lot of wandering with sketchbook in hand. Sometimes I feel that I must paint an image as faithfully as I can from a photo I've taken. To me this is the way to thoroughly absorb the memory of a place or moment by living in the scene as I work. Also of course this allows me to share my personal view of that image. Another method that gives me visceral pleasure is working in total abstraction. Abandoning representation and letting the elements run wild engages new parts of my mind and refreshes me creatively. I find it similar to making music: color and texture in motion, judged purely on their own terms. My artistic method is always intuitive, so I maintain creative space for works that don't fit neatly into these categories. I am beyond excited to learn more and produce more and keep surprises coming.