For as long as I can remember, I have been chasing light, color, and whimsy. As a child, I remember the first time that I noticed the way sunlight crept across a room, landing on items around our home. Though I only picked up the paintbrush later in life, this early observation along with a deep-seated urge to create with my hands, helped to define who I am.

Before finding my permanent home in oil paint, my creativity expressed itself through a winding, joyful path of tactile crafts. I have always possessed a creative flair, whether I was diving into school craft projects, experimenting with the canvas of my own hair, knitting, sewing, or sculpting flame-work glass beads. For years, my kitchen was my primary studio; I poured myself into baking intricate, sculptural birthday and wedding cakes, a journey of sugar creations that culminated in a national win at the Grove Park Inn’s National Gingerbread House Competition in Asheville in 2009.

Every one of these disciplines taught me how to see, shape, and appreciate form, but it wasn't until I discovered painting (first watercolor then oil) in 2019 that all the pieces truly clicked. As a self-taught painter, the medium immediately felt like the ultimate destination for my creative energy, a passion that has only deepened with each passing year.

Today, I am most inspired by still life and animal subjects. I am drawn to the everyday poetry of personal objects, especially those belonging to the people I love such as the vintage perfume bottles or the delicate jewelry box resting on my grandmother’s dresser. Noticing these objects and capturing their form on the canvas is my way of preserving a legacy and capturing the unseen energy of those who held them.