Artist Statement

Painting is a spiritual experience for me, and I take the process of making art as an opportunity for setting and following intentions. My painting begins with ritual—the scent of sage, palo santo, or incense; the focus on deep breathing; the awareness of the energies around me. These are some of the ceremonial processes that connect me to my art.

I write affirmations on the first layer of my canvas—a process of blessing the piece and its creation. Then, I use flow and movement to explore the relationship between my spirituality and my artistic expression, weaving images of life—leaves and flowers, birds and insects—as an evocation of growth and energy. Each brushstroke is an intuitive dance that draws images from within myself to the canvas, but my choice of colours is always intentional. Colour connects to the seven chakras, promising healing and peace. Like my clothes and my home, my art is lush with bright, bold colours; they are part of who I am and how I live, and I hope that the colours on my canvases communicate a sense of joy and ease to my audience. Those feelings are my gift to share with the world.

I feel most myself when I am painting. But the process of painting is also transformative, and each piece teaches me something new about who I am. As Hugh Prather puts it, “always a new painting, always a new me.” For me, art is an interactive process of change, whereby creation does not only produce a painting. It also generates a new artist and, at my most hopeful, a new world.