Everything is overwhelming. It’s rare that I’m ever truly comfortable, at ease, calm, or relaxed and for me to feel comfortable, at ease, calm, or relaxed, I must be somewhere familiar — somewhere I can let my guard down, somewhere that feels like home. Anxiety places a strict limit on the number of places I can do that in. My house, my studio, the house I grew up in, and sometimes (maybe) a friend’s house. There’s not many more more beyond those. I like to be inside. I like to be around people I know — people that are familiar, whose opinion of me I know. I like to be where I feel safe — unjudged and unbothered.
In my current, ongoing body of work I seek to observe and appreciate the places I feel at home (and sometimes just specific things within them) through small to medium, intimately composed oil paintings. I paint the spaces as they are, hardly set-up or altered for the paintings. I aim to capture the essence, the life, of the space to express, as honestly as possible, what makes it special to me. It’s important to me to look closely at the subjects of my paintings, to attempt to see everything there is to see. In 2020, I was diagnosed with a form of macular degeneration. It cannot be corrected with glasses and there’s no way to fix or slow its progression. As the disease progresses and my vision becomes more and more obscured, the importance of careful, close observation grows. I want to see every little thing I can, to savor my vision while I have access to as much of it as I currently do. By painting in a highly realized manner, I’m able to capture and closely observe all of the little elements of the spaces that come together to create a sense of comfort in me — that make me feel at home.
This body of work began in February of 2023 and is still ongoing.
To view larger images of the work, click or tap on one.
To purchase available works, contact me via the contact form on the home page or using any of the methods listed on the About Me page.
