For as long as I can remember, I have always loved opposition and resolution - the quiet conversation between seemingly different forces that appear separate, yet are in truth, profoundly connected. Line and form. Chaos and stillness. Fragility and strength. This duality has fascinated me since childhood and continues to inspire and shape my work today.

I love line! Something literally moving across the canvas from endless points in space until ultimately connecting to become a shape, one or several. These shapes I fill with color and texture illuminating what lays within. And inside this imagined depth and beauty I find space for breathing, hope and renewal.

A word about color...I thrive on color – be it vivid and fiery, teeming with energy, or soft and muted, subtle – all gorgeous, all present. With the discovery of neon color in both oil paint and stick form I was euphoric. What I find so intriguing and beautiful is not only the brightness and joy it offers the viewer but the translucent veil it splashes across the canvas. It gives off warmth and sheen.

Yellow is a color I had not used in such large amounts before. This exploration has been a challenge both thrilling and frustrating – and certainly one of discovery. I find that yellow illuminates, inspires, and shines like the brightness of the sun. It gives off warmth and glow. It reveals growth and heat and chaos. Its complements are purples and lavenders. Each pushes and emboldens the other. Beautiful. This heated color can even appear cool. Fascinating. Neon pink carries a different emotional resonance: Charged yet peaceful, suspended somewhere between the intensity and fiery drama of red and the soft tender lack of color, white. Emotionally charged, yet peaceful. A note of green enhances as it’s compliment, amplifying its vibration, creating visual tension and harmony. Each pushes and emboldens the other.

If we stop for a moment as the chaos of this time swirls around us; if we take a breath; if we look beyond the obvious we will find something, a sign, an unexpected bit of beauty, color, texture, light, an amazing creature just there. Hidden and yet it seems as if it was always there once discovered.

I have used the imagery of birds and feathers because they are not only beautiful and magical but because they symbolize hope, freedom, and renewal. A higher perspective. Birds appear in so much of my artwork. They are a mirror.

The process of art-making is the exploration and the journey of discovery. It's the miracle.

This is why I make art.