The allure between highly personal and disquiet resonates within my collage paintings. The process in which I make art allows me to express internal dialogs between how thoughts and the body interact with the environment. These narratives are built intuitively through layers of materials and symbolism. Collaged elements are taken from mid-century texts, dated magazines, vintage fabric, and old beads. These materials seem graphically appealing while also feeling stifling and imposing. The layers are a play between a dreamlike beauty and a veiled relationship to my memory and emotions.

Figures are static in the landscape. Inanimate objects replace faces with acceptable emotions to create a new persona. The replacement allows for concealed sentiments to be visible. Figures are typically surrounded by text. The text blends into the landscape but once read informs the painting. The scale of plants and animals is exaggerated to balance the stagnant figure with what is alive and growing. Plants rise despite a frozen landscape. Animals, notably winged creatures, move toward or away from the figure, forming a movement or direction to follow as a possible path out of inertia. The tension between the figure, plant, and animal belies a dark whimsy.

Strange, ambiguous beauty is formed by internal symbolism made by text, watercolor marks, fabric, beads, and stitching. Words create texture. The handwritten phrases fade into the composition; once seen, the typed words are meant to be a focal point. The look of the text can be subtle; the words are not.

Watercolor marks representing scars and viscera fill the painting. Fabric is cut and frayed to exemplify chronic ennui and illness. Beads are sewn in clusters to depict breath and air. Thread is stitched around the edges to finish each piece. Stitching establishes a border that is meant to be seen but overlooked like the hem of clothing - something that is time-consuming and leaves traces on the artist's body but is almost invisible.