I’ve always been wired a little different. I struggled learning to tie my shoes. I failed the road test six times. Math hurts my feelings. I was the first one out of dodgeball...every...single...time. Everyone has their thing and I can taste colors. Vibrant color tickles my tongue like a sweet summer fruit salad. Now, before you think I like licking freshly painted walls and drinking dirty paint water, let me explain how I “taste” the colors. It’s more like a feeling that translates to my mouth where I can imagine what each color would taste like. Not weird at all.

Painting is my form of meditation. It offers me peace of mind that I can’t find anywhere else. It’s the one thing that shuts my mind up and clears it out. Painting lets me have some control over my own universe, even when I let the paint do its own thing. Art is the only thing that has ever come easy to me. It’s a practice that has given my life some meaning. It’s basically a power trip.

I fell in love with watercolor in high school. I love the wild, temperamental side of watercolor. I treat my paints like a dance partner and not something I want to control 100%. I want the paint to make its own decisions. I enjoy the happy accidents, the burps, and blooms. I love everything that affects a wet watercolor wash...the cleanliness of the water, the humidity in the air, salt, and wet paint splatters. Watercolor is exciting all the time.


Let’s Talk Shop:

I like to mix color from a limited pallet. I have a warm and a cool collection of each of the primary colors (red, yellow, blue) on my dirty pallet at all times. I go to them like piano keys. They’re in the same spot all the time, so that I don’t have to look while I’m painting, just create. Working from a limited pallet also unifies the painting. I like to splatter with white gouache and sometimes I layer and add highlights of titanium white acrylics.

I’m a materials snob and only like to work on cold-pressed 100% cotton rag paper. I find I work best in 15-minute spurts. It helps to keep my washes fresh, so I don’t create muddy colors from overworking. It allows me to grab a snack and gives me just enough time to lose the tv remote. I should also mention, I usually paint upside down. It helps me to see simple shapes in the big picture.

I really love painting animals, insects, and sea creatures. Why? I want you to love them, too. I hope my art can help people look at the world a little differently. To help form empathy for the misunderstood creatures and highlight the beauty of the tiny things that may have been overlooked. To build appreciation for all that we have ignored. I want everyone to fall in love with strong, unapologetic color. We walk around numb to the magnificence of all the mundane things that surround us. We take it all for granted. I’ve held onto my childhood wonder. I want to help you tap back into
yours...in case that’s something you have lost. So, I guess that’s what drives me creatively.

Enough about me. I’m not the best watercolor painter in the world, nor do I want to be. I paint because I have to. I hope that you can relate a bit to my thought process. Maybe you can also taste colors. Maybe you can see music. Maybe you’re a marvelous chef that creates masterpieces with fresh ingredients. Maybe you love spring time garden toads and bugs as much as I do. I just hope that everyone can tap into their own creative rhythm. Find your magic creative string and pull it. It’s a gift.