Although a native of San Antonio, Texas, Casey has considered the Southeast her home for over 30 years. She studied Art and Art History at Texas Christian University and the University of Alabama. Her many subjects are approached with light-hearted enthusiasm and delivered with singular verve and style yet are introspective and spiritually enlightening. For Matthews, it is important not to become complacent, and not to be afraid of challenge or risk. Her artwork is a direct outgrowth from her life events and past remembrances. Matthews has been painting professionally since 1998; since then, painting has come to define her existence. "I cannot remember any moment in my life when I did not want to be an artist." This award-winning artist has sold to collectors throughout North America and Europe, and currently works from her studio in Fernandina Beach, Florida.Artist StatementMy current body of work is primarily mixed-media abstract painting and explores a constant discourse between intuitive and non-objective. My intention is to create layers of information through a technique that employs strata of media. I gather inspiration from life, and then translate it into my terms. The work combines emotional content, observation, technique, exploration, and reinvention. It is a form of vague communication and contradiction. It is my intention to create rich surfaces that are visually intriguing with expressive colors and organic shapes, leading the mind's eye on an aesthetic journey throughout the emotional process of transformation and destruction.Each painting begins with a collage that was manipulated with solvent and then torn until a composition emerges. The process is a marriage of layered acrylic paint, medium, charcoal, handmade paper, tissue, and oil sticks on canvas. I incorporate simple vine charcoal drawings between layers until a rich texture emerges. I embrace the drips and splatters that develop along the way; at times they lend themselves to an unfinished journey. I am interested in structure, energy, mood, color, and the enduring relationships among them.