“Artists have to be warriors, have determination and stamina to conquer not
just new territory but also to conquer themselves and their weaknesses”
- Marina Abramovic
Intuition informs my artistic practice. I allow my gut to make decisions concerning the narrative of the painting. Trusting my insight permits me to act confidently without getting muddled by unproductive thoughts. Of course, I find it important to think of the message my art transmits, so I work out concepts prior to sketching. Ideas come to me impulsively and once I am satisfied with the primary sketch, I commit to canvas, welcoming spontaneous additions along the way. The result is often a story brimming with cryptic symbols and disorienting clues.
My artistic process begins with research. I search images online and I allow my mind to create a story around them. Moved by imperfections and the concept of the female grotesque, I am drawn to images of female figures that will encourage scenes of awkwardness and gloom. Once I have settled on a general concept, I continue to navigate various images to inspire a more complete tale. I gravitate toward images that, when put together, uncloak ambiguity in a strangely coherent whole. The mood of the painting tends to reveal itself as the piece progresses, depending on the colour palette I chose along the way. Regardless of the intention, mysticism and the dreamworld are recurring themes.
My own struggles with mental health inevitably surface in my work. Themes of melancholy, awkwardness and fragmentation organically arise. Granted, my artistic practice serves an obvious therapeutic purpose, but mostly it allows for a deeper expression of my subconscious world. Hidden beneath the instability of the mind is a fertile imagination, a powerful gift which grants surrealistic abundance.
Communicating through painting is relatively new for me yet feels quite natural. It allows me to express deeper truths that verbal or written communication cannot accord. I believe in the depths of the subconscious and the merits of accessing it through art. Creating something out of thin air through painting has allowed my imagination to speak to me using a surrealist vocabulary. It is the portal I have found to truly access my mind.
I use oil paint, watercolour, collage and mixed media in my work. I am drawn to colourful patterns and tapestries, which I tend to incorporate naturally in paintings and drawings. Experimenting with textures and forms, abstract and figurative, intuitive and researched approaches, I aim to expand my visual vocabulary every day.
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