I find inspiration from personal experience combined with the variety of media essential to my creative process; and the challenge of variety is essential to my artistic style. When making art, I consciously avoid limiting myself in regard to themes or subject matter. Each work of art tells a story of what was going on in my mind or in my life at that time.   In this way, my art is a reflection of my life experiences and my consciousness.

 

Anything I create that is realistic, I simultaneously work on an abstract painting where I can let out my frustrations with the rigidity of more technical art. I often work on two canvases at the same time. On one of my canvases, I am painting realistically. On the other, I paint abstractly. These two canvases are visual representations of my artistic style. Part of me obsesses over refining my artistic craft and technique, while the other part, needs to burst out in complete self-expression. And sometimes, the dichotomy of my artistic style converges. Sometimes I find myself in that place in between artistic self-expression and realism. This is evident in my piece, Thoughts, because I use loose brush strokes and drip paint freely while maintaining a figurative structure. Other times, I use a stream of consciousness doodle as my starting point. I would redraw the doodle onto a canvas and flesh it out with color and dimension. This style is evident in my piece, Sensory Awareness and Life.

 

Whenever I paint completely expressively I am guided by the natural movement of my arm, my love for vibrant colors and the delight I get watching colors mix and paint drip. Because I let my arm movement guide my abstract pieces, I end up creating undulating tendril-like lines and shapes that repeat across the painting. I generally work with acrylic paint, but more recently, I’ve been working with chalk pastels on cement. I discovered this medium while volunteering at a chalk art festival. I grew to love the medium because, with chalk, I am able to find a balance between self-expression and technique. The large-scale size of chalk art allows me to move my body and release a lot of energy while practicing technique and refining my artistic craft.