Painting gives me the chance and the challenge of synthesizing what often seem like binaries in the human experience: heart/head, internal/external, emotion/aesthetic, past/future, control/letting go. While I typically start with a subject in mind, I try to leave room for the subject’s own expression and the viewer’s own experience. This process is becoming more enjoyable and less daunting as I keep practicing trust in something greater than myself.

Why the patches?

I start each painting with an intention that I write on a small piece of paper. I tuck this paper behind a patch that I sew onto raw canvas or linen. The patch acts as the keeper of that intention and also as a representation of our filters that often limit what and how we see.