Artist Statement - 2026

My studio practice investigates portraiture as a site for emotional processing, using color as a primary tool to map and quantify internal states. Heavily informed by psychological frameworks and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) strategies, my workflow creates a tangible, visual bridge between thoughts, feelings, and the physical act of painting.

My creative process is rooted in daily tracking and journaling [source: 1]. Before beginning a session, I assess my psychological landscape, cross-referencing my emotional state with a structured system of color symbology. I formulate palettes motivated entirely by these daily check-ins, creating a dynamic chart format that logs the fluid relationship between a specific hue and a specific emotion.

Methodologically, my work bridges digital and traditional media. While smaller observational portraits are completed in a single setting using a limited palette, my larger-scale works begin as digital reference photographs [source: 1]. I utilize Photoshop to meticulously alter color fields to match my psychological objective before translating the image to canvas [source: 1]. Because these larger paintings develop over weeks, they become living artifacts of time; layers, textures, and figures are frequently altered, erased, or painted over to reflect my evolving emotional reality on any given day [source: 1]. Ultimately, my work seeks to deconstruct the boundaries of the self, transforming the canvas into a space for catharsis, self-healing, and profound emotional release.