​I have lived all my life in Georgia, and during my years here I have seen the South embrace a multitude of transformations, one of which has taken place within me. At the tender age of 19, I joined the workforce and steadily climbed the corporate ladder. I worked hard, attended the school of hard knocks, and I excelled. From this experience, I took many positive lifelong lessons that have been integral, not only to my success in business, but to my personal life as well.

As a young girl, I had an engulfing desire to be creative; whether drawing images in the clouds, daydreaming in a classroom, or getting my hands on something I could attack, destroy, and then make beautiful. Over the years, I took art classes here and there when I could. Being a single mother and needing a steady income, I could not seriously pursue my artistic career until 2009. In 2011, I started working under the tutelage of Michael David. This experience was life changing for me. Michael not only opened my mind to a higher level of understanding and creativity, but he believed in me and challenged me to do the same.

It is my belief that if your work ethics are solid and you truly love what you are doing, the integrity of your work will shine through. My paintings do not become “real” until I feel a personal connection to them. I haven chosen a variety of materials, such as the wedding gown I wore when I was a bride at 17, dirt from specific places as far away as Minnesota, hot wax, oils, charcoal and even tar at times. I work with materials that demonstrate my vital spark. I respect the act of painting, as well as the fight to find resolution in each story.

My work represents a direct metaphor of my life, and how faith has helped me overcome many struggles. We have all gone through personal challenges, but it is how you cope and heal that is a true testament to your character. One of the greatest gifts I’ve received, is the lesson on how to forgive. To forgive does not necessarily mean that you must forget. To forgive means to move gracefully past the hurt, pain, and destruction. To truly forgive, one must fill the voids with positive energy, which is cultivated from experiences. It is the illustration of this strength in my work, that can impart on others the wisdom to not remain stagnant in their pain.

The women in my work are not victims, but survivors; warriors that have fought hard for a brighter way and a better quality of life. My landscapes are also based on the same principle. After illness, loss or violence, there should be a time for healing, cleansing and grace. There should also be an acceptance of the things one cannot change. With that acceptance, comes the power of growth.

When describing my work – whether landscape, figurative or abstract – it all relates to this common thread of loss and redemption. I paint from the inside out, exposing my innermost self. I am “spilling my guts” so to speak, then working desperately to find and finish the painting with resolution, beauty, and redemption. I use materials that allow me to go deep and to dig out scars that I can correct. I don’t stop until I feel the painting has full resolution. The process mirrors the same triumphs I have achieved in my personal life. My hope is that the viewer is drawn in by the physicality of the painting but is then able to sense the emotional content and the search for truth that is always at the heart of each work.

Triumph and redemption – wanting to make something beautiful out of things that were lost, discarded or ugly – is common in all three bodies of my work. They are deeply inter-related. The figurative works deal with women, and their rise through a core spirituality. The landscapes deal with the notion of triumphs that occurred in specific sites in the South. The third, abstracted series, is a view of both. I take the notion of loss and triumph and lay it out without specific narratives.