Bio

I love the feel of paint beneath my fingertips, and bringing the feelings of my creations to life. Sometimes they are calm and sometimes they jump off the canvas for attention, but always, there is an element of surprise of something from deep within. You might say I paint myself.

While I prefer oil paints as my primary medium, it wasn’t always my first love. My imagination was always very strong. I’d say borderline overactive. My mind was constantly coming up with new imaginary stories about people and places, both real and fiction. I started writing poetry and short stories as a way to bring to life the things I could never do in the real world. I would lock myself away for hours working on my own creative breed of fiction and fantasy. I latched onto the desire to grab images from my highly detailed, overactive mind, and try to describe every nook and cranny of my imaginings to the reader, as if in verbal Trompe L’oeil.

Like many, I was told that I could never make a living being creative, there was too much competition, it would be too hard, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…. I needed to go to college and get a real job. So, I did, and temporarily put my dreams aside.

I’ll spare you the details, but some years later I realized that much of what I had learned to believe about creating as a way of life was a lie. I now know that people get good at doing the things they are truly passionate about, not what they are “supposed to do.” That is why I believe you should never squash someone’s true passion. I began taking classes again and simply allowed myself to grow in an area where I felt I never should have been stunted.

When I did, something very interesting happened. The images I had previously been trying to capture in words, came flowing out naturally through the free flow of paint. It felt amazing. I had discovered a new freedom. It was truly a gift, and one I am forever grateful for.

xoxo, J