I am a painter exploring the imprints of interpersonal relationships on our individual identities. Using universal themes of love, sexuality, self expression, loneliness, morality, and more, I am able to create a picture of human connection, and its place in forming us as people. My work conveys my philosophy that the self is a culmination of all the people who impact and imprint on us throughout our life, in big ways and small. My paintings are brought to life through personal narrative, reflected most often in self portraits. In these pieces, I utilize unique framing and perspective and emotionally imbued color palettes as a means of storytelling and connecting with the audience. Typically, I prefer to paint large scale, to engulf the viewer and project emotion with broad, impassioned brush strokes. The choice of oil painting as my medium allows for this, giving me the space to take the quality of the paint from thick and textural to thin and washing, or invent a palette of colors that blend and contrast to each other. Through the physical and emotional process of painting, I begin to have an internal dialogue about the themes and messages I am portraying- one that is present in the final image, and invites the viewer in on the conversation. I aim for my use of layering and emotional brush stroke to create a subject that appears multitudinal- at times pieced together- representing the self and its many facets.