My work is a place where I can exercise complete freedom, a way to isolate the process of being at a certain place in a series of moments. These paintings gain inspiration from a recent trip to Venice Beach, California, where I was only able to spend 48 hours before returning home and back to work in New Orleans. Most of what I am looking to capture relates to color and gesture, the qualities of an image that are descriptive without being identified through an external source. Painting enables me to appreciate the moment indefinitely, to hold onto the feeling in retrospect and make new discoveries, and to share my interpretations of this place and time.

The images and use of patterned wallpaper reference back to my time in Memphis. I found that as I became older I wanted to discipline myself as an adult. The idea of discipline seemed against the grain of my nature, so I looked to identify with something visually that I admired which symbolized discipline and repetition. Immediately, I found myself surrounded by floral patterns on my couch, the quilts and draperies in my home and I started to paint these patterns to simulate the process of becoming consistent and predictable. The act of painting flowers developed into a strange form of calligraphy, and the thought of going back and trying to reproduce something that is innately mechanical (against nature) became ridiculous. In a visual sense, the newer paintings have not only shown a progression from these thoughts, but give reference to the source from which the ideas developed, and leave room for interpretation.