Born in Elgin, Illinois, I was drawn to creative endeavors from an early age. I won a scholarship and earned three associates degrees with high honors in graphic design. Although I do still create commercial art and have dabbled in a wide variety of mediums, I currently almost exclusively focus on painting with artist-grade acrylics. Each of my artworks is a one-of-a-kind original, created with concern for durability and intended to last the test of time. I usually work with the viewer in mind. My paintings are often intended to be unobtrusive, simple backgrounds for softening the glare of bare walls and the complicated lives lived within them. I paint what I feel and imagine, not what I see in front of me; reference photos are quickly forgotten in my realm. If all goes well, soon I become completely lost in the process... yet I always find myself comfortably at home. Complete focus is both exhausting and exhilarating, resulting in a mental state that produces my best pieces. As I seek a balance between trying to control the creativity and allowing it free reign, I am always reminded that beyond vision, my artwork becomes the expression of all of my senses while I’m immersed in painting - rhythm and melody are as important in artworks as they are in music, and I especially enjoy the resonance of my brush dancing against a stretched canvas.