I paint interiors, murals, costumes, abstracts, selfie wings, animals, flowers & wine. I also digitally create mandalas & cyborgs from nature, people & machine photography. I welcome commissions in any media. My studio is in Northern VA.
PTH with selfie dragon wings gilded & painted on maple for Elysium Ax Bar, Purcellville, VA Opening Summer 2022.
Bas-Relief Nature Studies in Mixed media. JUNE 2022 FEATURED ARTIST EXHIBITION AT DISTRICT ARTS GALLERY CLICK ON VIDEO FOR A PREVIEW ABOVE
PORTFOLIO
Artists are therapists. Color is a powerful subliminal force.
The way we manipulate it on pictures can trigger responsive brain vibrations, tame or jack up endorphins. I believe in the power of images, I believe surrounding ourselves with upbeat iconography can positively affect our outlook on life with time. I photograph and paint because I want to expand people’s visual filter, empathy, make them laugh, reflect, feel good and connect them to a larger energy.
I have been painting all my life, but have expanded my canvas to the digital, decorative, commercial and all performing arts stages. I still find beauty in insignificant, but visually stimulating details, in the most unexpected places that surround me every day. I work on several pieces simultaneously, always trying new commissions, techniques, media and subjects. I love rendering people and animals in particular because besides the challenge they present me in capturing their likeness, I struggle to also capture their personal life spark, what Da Vinci called their “Moti Mentali” or the “motions of their minds”.
I almost never paint in one single media, but end up adding others to boost depth, texture or color, depending on the piece. For example, I may build texture with rice paper, sawdust, sand, pumice or molding paste and build color slowly in multiple thin watercolor glazes and then move on to opaque certain areas with acrylics last. I may use resists, gold leaf, silk salts, coffee, ink, dye, watercolor crayons and pencils on the same piece too. I may mix my own pigment and make my own brushes, if commercially available ones still don’t get me the effect I seek. I paint on paper, silk, wood, board, tar paper, canvas, furniture, scenery, glass, metal and architectural walls.