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I have left the traditional constraints of order and process behind. I lean into the chaos. My art is an abstraction of my life, and currently, that means celebrating the mess. When I paint, I have a tangible connection with the canvas as I literally dance with each brush stroke and pastel line. I paint in the moment, not worrying about what comes before or after. I crown the chaos by adding shades of pastels and whites to highlight it, directing the viewer from one point to the next.

 

My abstract art takes on many forms, but each work is a completely unique exercise in embracing disarray and making it beautiful.

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I am a second generation artist and gallery owner. Galleries are like a second home. The smell of terpenoids and oil paints are as comforting as the smell of cookies.

 

Thankfully, a strong foundation in visual arts has held me together. When I couldn’t read in first grade, my school thought I should be held back. When I couldn’t read in 4th grade, my confidence was shattered. I was then diagnosed with severe dyslexia.

 

While I have learned to read and write to a socially acceptable level, this learning difference has shaped who I am.

 

The way I interpret and reinterpret information is unconventional but just as accurate and needed in the world.  

 

This difference in processing shows up in my paintings and the way I go about life.

 

I graduated with a degree in apparel design and worked in New York City in the industry, but missed trees, so I moved back south. My husband and I got married and I ended up managing a local gallery in Birmingham, Alabama.

 

My boss let me show some of my first paintings and they sold. After work, I would stay up late painting. I started making more income from my art than my day job. When we found out we were expecting our first daughter, I made the plunge to become a full time artist.

 

A year later, I was opening my own gallery, and two months after that we were surprised to find out we would be welcoming a second daughter. The girls are now also growing up in the art world. For the first four months of my second daughter’s life, she was strapped to me in a sling as I did shows, sold art the gallery, and painted.

 

Art is my home- the home I was first given, and the home I have created.