I’m a 6th generation Native Texan born in Lubbock in 1975.  A love of travel and trouble led me on a winding path to the discovery of a love of art at in my 40s.  I enrolled at the Glassell School of Art (MFA, Houston) in 2015 and received my certificate in 2019.   While my work is diverse, I have lately been focused more on oil painting and I am drawn to figuration and the intimacy of the artist-sitter interaction.  I am a very empathetic person and as I paint my subject we communicate verbally and nonverbally.  Our interaction is the sum of all the experiences we have had, and I want my art to reflect that.  Sometimes realism conflicts with truth.  I disregard faithfulness to form when honest examination of my sitter calls for it, or if traditional realism cannot properly convey the experience we are sharing.  Through disruption, improvisation and expressionism, I strive to expand the formal portrait to include our present situation, our conversations and our memories.  In this way, I seek to communicate the humanity of my sitter, and of myself, with the viewer.