When I was little I discovered I could disappear from the world through art, and return refreshed and happy. I craved that quiet escape, and so growing up I took as many art classes as I could.

As an adult, I built a successful design business, but the work was always for someone else. Instead of making art in my free time, I looked at art, and many nights literally dreamed of painting.

My design business shuttered quickly with the pandemic, but I didn’t try to revive it; instead, I had two small children to care for, educate, and keep safe. Emotionally it was a difficult time. I began painting crowded gardens, suffocating in relentless growth, with an unnamed darkness lurking. I thought: I can’t make sense of the world, control it, or even keep my children safe within it. My hope was to create beauty within these truths, or in spite of them. For a couple years, I clung to painting as a way to anchor and express myself. Now I’m able to focus more on the paintings themselves rather than the emotions behind them, and I feel my work shifting a bit.

I am a member of the artist-owned Hillsborough Gallery of Arts. You can see my work in person there at 121 N. Churton St, Hillsborough, NC. Hours are Mon-Sat 10-6 and Sun 12-4.