I’ve always been attracted to abstract art, so when I started painting it was a natural fit for me. There’s no “good” or “bad” when it comes to art, especially abstract - it’s just what you bring to it. I love that an image can have a lot of different meanings to different people and there’s something about non-representational work that forces a dialogue between the artist and the viewer. “What exactly is it that I’m looking at? Am I supposed to feel a certain way? What is the artist trying to say?” Luckily the viewer gets to decide.

I started painting to satisfy that natural itch that we all have when confronted by those paintings where we think: “I could’ve done that.” Well can you? I decided to give it a try and I’ve been sprung ever since.

I paint with very little intention, letting action precede thought. The finished works often reveal to me, not only the feelings and emotions I have from everyday life, but also those that have accumulated from my nearly 25 years of social work in the Los Angeles County child welfare system. From my work I carry around a lot of emotional baggage that doesn’t rightly belong to me, and purging all of that onto paper or canvas allows for a certain release. The paintings can carry that weight.

The prospect of exploring the unseen world is another factor that attracts me to art. I often vacillate between messy, gestural abstract expression and tight, controlled geometric art. Some works are fussy and well ordered, some are messy and chaotic - I don’t really have a preference either way. The idea of creating something that has not yet been seen, whether or not this is possible, is what propels me to investigate new ideas, mediums, and images. The studio is like a chemistry lab to me, and the freedom to create whatever I want, whenever I want, is the intoxicating part of the process. I find that this is a dragon fully worth chasing, and am totally excited to see what’s next to come.