I’ve been drawing and painting for longer than I can remember. In my youth, art was an escape for me: a way to get lost in imaginary worlds and create my own realities. Over time, my outlet turned into passion and discipline. I first studied Scientific Illustration at the University of Michigan, then transferred to the Savannah College of Art and Design to learn illustration and follow in the footsteps of my art idols. I longed to have the skill set and mastery of painting that turn-of-the-century portrait painters like John Singer Sargent and artists of the golden age of illustration like Rockwell, Leyendecker, and NC Wyeth had. After a bachelor’s and master’s degree in illustration, I continued to study under Master Painters, learning traditional methods of painting from Florence-inspired ateliers and mentorships. After many years of working as an illustrator and traditional portrait painter, the influence of the wildlife and history of my new surroundings after moving to the West, intersected with a desire to create more expressive and gestural art. I began painting the personalities of the local wildlife that surrounded me - intimate portraits of creatures with their own stories, painted in a loose contemporary fashion that gave them an ethereal feel, but were grounded in the traditional skill set of my painting studies. I focused on the parts of painting I was most passionate about: emotional expression and paintings that connected to me at a soul level. I became obsessed with creating paintings that looked back at me and connected to me spiritually. It was a way of honoring the grand creation of the natural world with my own artistic creation. This painting style gives me the joy of spontaneity and the satisfaction of painting intricate details all in one painting.