I really like to create realistic worlds in my artworks. I guess my dream would be to be able to create real worlds that people would view through the windows of my art. But that is quite a lofty goal, so instead I focus on trying to create naturalistic lighting, figures that interact with each other and the environment, and realistic modeling of figures.

I typically like to use polymer clay and paints, oils preferably but I work with acrylics as well. I value drawing highly as an intermediary step to plan and think out compositions and features. I like to paint stories mostly; I try to recreate cohesive and clear plot paintings that create a sense of awe and natural beauty.

My current work shows a mother and her child. The woman kneeling is the grandmother. I wanted to portray the child’s mother as hesitant to let go of her child, yet the grandmother really wants to see and hold the new family member. The painting is entirely out of my head with no references; however, I took some inspiration for the left side of the forest from “The Swing” by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. One particularly challenging part of the painting was the robes. To draw the robes accurately I drew out the bodies of both figures, then drew the robes over the top, which ended up taking a lot of time.