I don't hide the fact that I left the lab and ventured into the studio because bipolar disorder made it very difficult to do my job. Painting was never a skill I possessed, I know nothing of composition or color theory and it was a long road of learning but I have found doors in my mind that really needed to open! This journey has taught me that if I put my mind to something I can succeed!

Things I never considered...

What I've found the most rewarding is the responses I get from others viewing my work. I had never considered that my paintings had the power draw out such deep emotions. I really love to hear what my clients see in my work because often times they point out things I never noticed or they'll say "THAT is how I feel right now".

I think what makes me stand out as an artist is the fact that my style changes frequently and without warning. Having bipolar disorder can take you in so many directions..i've been up, i've been down, I have been very, very sick. BUT I have learned that painting keeps me in a healthy state of mind. When my illness takes me in a new direction my style changes to whatever is "soothing" to my state of mind at that time. I will go months with a theme or style and wake up to find my mind has had enough and switches gears. It's quite profound and I still stuggle to understand how it works.

Music is huge for me, it soothes my mind, my heart, my entire being. When I paint I go into a state of mind where I'm not really thinking much at all. If asked about the story behind a piece I have a hard time answering. However, when I started to enter descriptions of my work on my website I suddenly felt something deeper connecting me to each of my paintings. I found myself having an emotional reaction to them, similar to what my clients describe. So where I've thought I had no feelings going on at all, it turns out they're in there, I just keep them hidden until I can reflect on them later.

One thing I get asked a lot is 'how do you come up with your titles?" Well, naming my pieces is one of my favorite parts! Most of the time the name makes sense to nobody else but me. I use song titles and lyrics when I name my work. Sometimes they come to me in the middle of a piece and other times I wait days and days before I finally settle on a name. I simply don't like to name my pieces anything that will bring the mind to interpret it in a specific way so if I give it a name that seem relatively unrelated to the composition it's just what "feels right" to me at the time and then it goes out into the world where someone can dig in deep and see what they want to see without my title swaying them.