After years of layering abstract painterly treatments within the environments of my figurative work, I have finally arrived at an almost meditative way of using abstraction and painted collages as the subject itself. It is a new challenge, but I have always been interested in exploring the physicality of paint and its potential as an innovative force of creativity and a way of exploring my ideas in a quiet and possibly more poetic manner. Each work is an assembled composition starting with the base of the background and then arranging the elements to create an illusion of depth and visual movement. The dimensional relief of the paper petals and leaves are intentionally reliefs that emulate unfurling petals changing with the light of day, perhaps like real flowers. As a young artist, I was influenced by my college instructors who worked abstractly. Like my parents their influence still has a profound influence on my work and process of experimenting and allowing for chance and expression to take the works in unexpected directions.