My work centers very closely on wildlife and the comfort I find in nature balanced against themes of personal mental health and the chaos of the world’s current state. Growing up in Eastern Ohio along the Ohio River, the wilderness was a familiar friend. I was drawn to the haunting wails of loons, the far-away feeling of walking deep in the woods, and the dark silhouettes of trees just outside the range of a campfire’s glow. The unsettling strangeness of nature remains a major interest for me along with fantasy and horror. I work primarily in oil and gouache, finding aesthetic inspiration from Romanticism and Impressionism, among others, and looking at other examples including Symbolism and Expressionism and modern horror media. I’m drawn to bright oranges that speak to me of moths and candlelight and ultramarine blue, what I see as the depth of the night sky and a manifestation of melancholy and sleep. I am interested in using these motifs to explore my internal

My work mixes humor and beauty with darker themes and aesthetics. I draw from familiar spaces, both human structures and beyond, to explore my feelings of connection, disconnection, and identity. I aim to elevate the underappreciated creatures I love and find comfort in my inner world through my practice. In my paintings I can be myself and communicate the world that I live in, one deeply absorbed in observation and a dark, secluded homeliness shaped by ripples of introspection and decomposition.