Joyfully pushing the boundary between realism and expressionism
I believe our ability to appreciate and intentionally enjoy nature (or any exciting or beautiful life experience) is being destroyed by our accessibility to screens, shares, and filters. I take these fleeting, briefly-visited digital moments and expand them into fine art. By incorporating additional intense colors and texture into their representation, my hope is that my paintings provide an additional opportunity to question our perception of space and color; that my work may inspire us to seek our own experiences in nature, personal connection, or art instead of through a screen.
As a photorealist, I aim to explore various accomplishments in fine art and digital photography by creating hyper-saturated oil paintings that joyfully push the boundaries between expressionism and realism. My paintings of wildlife and small occurrences in nature are filled with fine detail and are achieved through careful study and technique.
My memories and experiences most dominantly exist in colors and light, and I invite viewers to reinterpret textures and space through my own sensitivities. I paint organic spaces and objects by translating the natural elements and the digital noise created by our modern, cellular-viewing tendencies by focusing on transitional colors and spaces. I strive to make the quiet areas where colors collide have their own exciting moment as I make them into the subtle heroes in a painting of a natural subject.
I have been a painter my entire life. For as long as I can remember, I have had a brush in my hand, painting whatever inspired me at the time- from Disney characters to boybanders to animals. I studied Fine Arts with a focus in oil painting from Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina. My time at Clemson helped me hone and define my style as a photorealist as I worked diligently to meet the demand of quality work and deadlines. I used these skills to open an Etsy store, SingingBirdsArt where I make photorealistic pet portraits, and I was one of four artists invited to Etsy Headquarters in Brooklyn, New York for an Etsy Success sponsored trip in 2019. My experience as a photorealistic painter over the last decade has taught me much about the evolution of our media exposure and visual experience as the quality of photos and screens has drastically changed. Both my observation and execution as a painter have developed into a distinguishable style that I’ve enjoyed exploring as Resident Artist at The Gallery at Sweetgrass.
I’m a South Carolina native and have lived in Charleston for over a decade with my husband, our two daughters, and our very active dog. When I’m not painting, my family and I are likely eating at our favorite Charleston restaurants, playing at the beach, helping with science homework, hanging with our neighbors, or watching The Office for the 700th time. In another life, I would be a writer for Saturday Night Live- but not an actual cast member because I lack any real stage talent.