Picking Series

Acrylic on canvas

My goal with these works is to bring light to a habit I do that is a manifestation of my anxiety. I’ve realized that picking at my hands is something I do without even thinking about it. Sometimes I’ve noticed it is when I feel emotionally heightened, other times when I’m bored or distracted. Other times I’ve noticed it in others around me. I want to illustrate my hands in a beautiful way using aggressive repetitive brushwork. It’s my goal for my viewer to feel the movement of the piece while pushing them to feel the overwhelmed emotion that I feel while I do this habit. The repetitive brush work are meditative marks that promote reflection and healing. These pieces are a part of a four painting series that explores hands in this way.

The Weight is a series of works exploring consumption. Our bodies are often taken for granted for how much they do for us. What we put into them, how we assess them, ways of measuring them, all impact our mental state around our self idealizations.

These artworks look to answer the questions:

What ways do I measure my body versus my health? How does emotion show up while fueling my body? What limitations do my body and mental health hold?

These works are an exploration of anxious habits. My goal in making these pieces is to continue the exploration of how I can illustrate my anxious feelings while eliciting that feeling in my audience. I envision a space where this along with my picking pieces are displayed in a packed, overwhelming space. I want the viewer to resonate with this work. Recognize something within themselves to bring awareness to what we hold shame around.

“Property or Commodity”

Acrylic on canvas - 24in. x 36in.

This piece alludes to the cost of having a womb and who has the right to control it. How does the political money/lobbying influence who has the control? The ambiguity suggests the price of womanhood in reference to birth, sexuality, and self ownership, while illustrating the “priceless” powerful possibilities of those who have a uterus. The haphazard crumpling and shoving of money into the female pelvis also mirrors the action of paying for sex or the illusion of sex. Are women in control of those transactions or are they left over from misogynistic ideals?

Belts

Acrylic and graphite on canvas

The Belt Series exploring the feelings and symptoms of anxiety on the human body. These paintings use acrylic paint and graphite with exaggerated brush strokes. These works are a personification of what anxiety feels like. The constriction in the chest that tightens your muscles and steals your breath. These paintings are loose and gestural to enhance that motion, the movement of the brushwork embodies the real movement in the act. We’ve all felt anxiety. What does it feel like for you? When are you anxious? What has made you anxious in the past? These pieces work together to explore this emotion, illustrating a symptom on the canvas.

“On Time”

Acrylic on canvas - 24in. x 36in.

This piece started out as an image that kept floating around in my brain. I felt compelled to illustrate this image. For me it represents how tied to time our lives are. We as humans are tied to alarms. Literal bells from childhood in schools into our adult lives using alarms.

This image is of my childhood alarm clock. I wanted this piece to illustrate a sense of anxiety, how I always feel pushed to the next thing, instead of taking a moment to be present and engage in life. The time on the clock is how long it takes me to take a deep breath.

“Acceptance”

Oil on canvas - 24in. x 36in.

This piece examines inner peace. What it means to finally have acceptance for who we are and how we exist in this world. As women, we are constantly criticized for how we look, act, and what we say or do. Those negative messages set root into our internal monologues. This piece is about blocking that out and being enough for ourselves.

Beauty

Acrylic on canvas

Beauty is a series of acrylic paintings diving into self acceptance and love. As a woman, society sometimes stigmatizes our feelings. When we have strong emotions, we are out of control or hysterical. These works illustrate finding beauty in those moments. They illustrate an expression that captures how I was feeling or an experience I just had. I was very interested in the minute changes our hands or faces can give away when we are seemingly not expressing anything at all.

These mouths embody a habit of anxiety. Through bold, bright brush work, and rhythmic movement, they are snapshots of the process of chewing the inside of your mouth. This small scale works beautify an unconscious mindless movement that our bodies engage in when emotionally amplified..