Within my art, I explore the relationship and emotions between mental health and the mind.  I paint a surreal view of mental health and the effects that ones state of mind plays on the individual.  Through my paintings, I express the feelings experienced during times of struggle with mental health and the demons that one may face, more specifically with depression and anxiety.  These feelings generally give way to thoughts, fears, and excessive behaviors one might experience during such times of struggle. 

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My own life experiences are combined with my imagination to allow for the peculiar color palate, dreamlike, figurative narratives I create.  I begin with a feeling or emotion related to a state of mind and analyze what the specific ailments really feel like.  My medium of choice, oil paint, permits for an abundance of colors and thick expressive marks which feels most natural with this instinctual practice. 

 

I move paint around on the canvas working with the pencil outline of my idea.  From this point, it is all automatic which suggests a therapeutic nature to my work.  I combine colors easily with the wet paint right onto the canvas and use my intuition of color choices leaving behind a variety of brush marks.  With this spontaneous manner of painting, I relate these feelings and or emotions to the therapy and impulsive manners in which those living with mental health issues think, feel, and act.