p r o g r e s s

I'm excited to share a sneak peek of my newest series, Fangs. I've been busily editing scans for the  past few days and it's beyond satisfying to have some new work under my belt! I'll be sharing the full versions in the next few days, so stay tuned.

s k e t c h y

No matter where I go, I always keep a couple of notebooks in my purse (one for sketching and one for writing). I've always been a sketching fiend; I absentmindedly doodle the faces and forms of ladies, jot down colour combinations and plan out projects. I have to admit that my memory can be a bit fuzzy at times, so it's beyond satisfying to be able to look back at sketches and know exactly what I was so excited about at any given time. Lately, my sketches have been all about the ladies; maybe it's time to challenge myself to branch out a little?

o r d e r e d . c h a o s

m y s e l f

A few years ago, I decided that, as an artist, the only subject matter that I could truly express and feel comfortable doing so was myself. I was (and still am) young enough to realize that I was seriously lacking in lofty world-views and cultural opinions; I felt at the time that any social message that I attempted to express or explore through my work would end up being too transparent or half-formed, and the piece would suffer. So, instead of looking out at the world for inspiration, I looked inward.

Self-portraiture pleases me for several reasons:

I. Documentation of fleeting personal changes and brief moments (as pictured above)
II. Expression of secret thoughts, desires and opinions
III. Exploration and the search for a personal place in the world

It's just the same in the general process of living; all that I have to offer is myself. I can't be any more or less than who I am; I must act in accordance with what makes me feel whole and calm and good. I want to be exuberant and giving and electric; I want to create and capture those feelings in my work.

...


I like to think that all work is self-portraiture; the artist's experiences, beliefs and choices influence their work so that it becomes a reflection of their person, regardless of the work's subject matter.

I began to think about this in my second year of Fine Arts at UW, when my class was assigned the challenge of presenting Drawing as both a verb and a noun.  My group and I devised a project in which our classmates were given inkblots and then asked to draw what they saw in the images; as predicted, each participant created a different piece in response to identical inspirations. This supported our hypothesis that each person's life experiences would shape their perceptions and influenced their output. Simple.


Every girl I draw is me; every word I write is a reflection of my own mind.