"Dreaming Together" My Newest Commission

For this commission I was contacted by someone who was hoping I could create this beautiful scene as a wedding present for his son and soon to be daughter-in-law. This exact spot on Dream Lake is where the couple got engaged and so he thought this would make for a very meaningful painting for them as they started their lifelong journey together.

 
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I feel so fortunate that I was contacted about this project and that I was trusted to create this special piece on a tight timeline. I hope that this painting will bring joy to the happy couple as it hangs in their home for years to come.

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My Latest Commission!

I'm excited to share with you my latest commission! And this piece is extra meaningful because it is for my elementary/ middle school teacher who greatly influenced my passion for art at a young age. And to top it off he plans on hanging it in his classroom! It just warms my heart to think of this painting inspiring other young artists and academics to follow their passions.

 
 

This teacher encouraged me to draw, paint and create whenever I could but most of all he was a kind, respectful and empathetic person for me to look up to during my formative years. I was really excited when he contacted me about this commission especially when he mentioned the the bee imagery serving as the representation of the natural world. Bees are such an important part of our ecosystem that we often take for granted. So the image of gracious hands that appreciate and respect the natural just seemed like a perfect theme to explore.

I feel so honored to have had the opportunity to make this painting for a teacher and school that did so much for me growing up. And I love imaging this painting hanging in one of the small Waldorf classrooms in Maui inspiring young students who are trying to find their way in this world.

Here is the full description for the painting: In this painting we see humans and nature in complete harmony. We have done the work to understand our role in this world and now seek to preserve the important balance of nature. We now understand that every tiny insect and microscopic creature plays a part in our world and though we as humans are capable of many incredible things this does not diminish the significance of any other life on this planet. When we choose to coexist with and not dominate the natural world we find that it provides so much more than we ever thought. And we can have room in our hearts to give back to the planet that has given us everything we could have every wanted.

Art Crawl and Recent Sales!

Katy and I had such a great time at the Los Alamos Arts and Crafts Crawl this weekend! What amazing day of meeting new people and conversing about my art! 4 originals were sold and another piece was sold separately about a week before. Be sure to scroll down to see which paintings were sold! Thank you to everyone who came out and we look forward to doing more events and shows in the future!

The following paintings have been sold recently! “Hallett Peak” ,“Fade into Light” ,“Undefined” , “Sequence” and “Unspoken” thank you so much to the Los Alamos community for choosing to invest in my work, I’m incredibly grateful

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Newest Publication! Shoutout Colorado

I feel very fortunate to have been interviewed by Shoutout Colorado about my art career! They seek out inspiring entrepreneurs and creatives and have them share some insights into their career.
I really appreciate this opportunity to share what I have learned so far and reflect back on what makes me tick as a working creative.

Please give this article a read if you have the time, I put a lot of thought into my answers so that you can get get to know me better on a professional and personal level. Click the button below to read the full interview!

"Hidden Meadow" | New Terra Human Painting!

Happy Friday everyone! I would like to introduce you to my newest Terra Human painting titled "Hidden Meadow"

I’ve spent this past month in quarantine painting this beauty! I’m not going to lie it was difficult at times to be working on such a daunting project while the there has been so much uncertainty in our world during this global pandemic. I definitely experienced days when I felt like it was all too much and I felt powerless and small. And something that brought me out of this darkness was knowing that small things done right really add up and I should focus on the things that were in my control. I could control how much time I painted/ worked and I could also control how much time I relaxed and took a moment for myself and my mental wellbeing. It has really been beneficial for me to look at my goals as marathons instead of sprints. I sometime's get so excited about the final result that I just want to run towards it as fast as I can, but I’ve learned that if I pace myself I will stay balanced and in control. Meaningful things take time and patience and that’s what I kept reminding myself while I was painting this piece.

So this painting is the result of over 50hours of patient work and planning. I hope you enjoy it and please feel free to read the description below.

 
 

This painting is about the places we go in times of distress in order to find peace and reassurance. These imaginary worlds can be made up of memories, images and emotions that bring us joy and comfort when we need it the most. We all have these types of locations in our memory and we retreat to them when the outside world can be too much for us to handle and we need to sit with our thoughts and emotions.

This painting illustrates what it looks like when we travel to this perfect spot in our mind, fall down into the soft trees and rest our eyes. Our bodies become one with our surroundings and the plants and animals grow and live in harmony with us without fear. We blend into the environment that we hold so dear to our heart and find a rejuvenated strength underneath the mountains. This strength allows us to stand back up despite the fear that is waiting for us on the other side and depart this comforting world with a level head and an accepting heart. 

I really hope you enjoy this new piece in my Terra Human series. This original painting is available for purchase! Click here if you would like to view this painting in my shop!

A Very Special Custom Painting

So I finally finished this very large and very special commission. I hope you enjoy hearing about it and why it is so important.
It can be incredibly difficult to lose someone you are close to and we all experience loss at some point in our lives but nothing can match the heartbreak of losing a true life partner. Sometime our thoughtfully planned out timeline is cut short by something unexpected and this can be devastating and life altering. But it can be nothing short of incredible to see how we can cope with such losses and slowly create a new life for ourselves.

 
 

The recipient of this painting lost her partner in 2018 and hoping I could create a a painting of him enjoying his favorite spot in Montana. When I agreed to take on this project, I wanted to approach it with the upmost sensitivity and respect in a way that would memorialize this person and visualize him enjoying his favorite place in the world. I wanted to show him in a truly better place free from the complications of our world.
I hope this piece can serve as a reminder of the wonderful life that has been lived and the wonderful life that is still unfolding.

This piece is titled “A Moment Stretched to Eternity” because I wanted to capture the feeling we get when we are enjoying time with our loved ones and a single moment can have so much happiness and contentment that we want it to last forever. We hope that time can just stand still so we can soak in all of the positivity from the people we love and always view them in this moment of perfection. But the best we can do is hold onto these moments as we travel through life and appreciate the people we love the most while they are here and remember them fondly when they are gone.

 
 

"Unguarded" A New Terra Human Piece

Hello friends, I want to share my newest Terra Human piece with you all! This 9”x12” is titled “Unguarded” and deals with themes of masculinity and mental health.

This piece depicts a man transitioning from who he was to who he wants to become. He was hardened by his upbringing in order to make him brave and emotionless so that he could weather any challenge and conquer any odds, but this had a cost. In order to become a fearless warrior this man learned not to feel. He suppressed his emotions, he ignored pain, and he refused to let down his guard in fear of compromising his masculine persona. He was told over and over again that this world was harsh and unforgiving so he needed to mimic these traits in order to get ahead.

 
 

Eventually he reached a breaking point because of the daily pressures he felt from his family, friends, and the society that surrounded him. He couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, and mundane tasks caused him immense stress and worry. This piece illustrates the tipping point where he starts to explore a mindset of vulnerability and self care.

The man in this piece is allowing himself to be flawed and broken so that he can reach out for help for the first time. Taking deep breaths he melds into the landscape around him and finally embraces the vulnerability that he avoided for so long. He starts to understand that being a warrior does not mean he needs to be so strong that he doesn’t feel rather it means that he needs to be strong enough to feel. Its natural for him to make mistakes, ask for help and feel sad at times. This is the beginning of his new journey towards self reflection and self worth.

I hope you enjoyed this in-depth description of “Unguarded” this piece has been sold but I have plenty other amazing Terra Human paintings in another section of my website. CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE!

Fall Paintings!

Hi everyone, sorry I haven’t posted in a while! I’ve kept myself super busy with new paintings that I would love to share with you right now! Fall in Colorado means that our aspen trees in the mountains begin to change and there is a small window of time to see them with their amazing yellow and gold colors. Luckily I was able to get up into the mountains on two separate weekends to enjoy the amazing views and take some great photos! These hikes and photos really inspired me to make several fall landscape paintings that showcase the amazing aspens we have in Colorado.

So here is my first fall landscape piece that I recently completed! I took the photo reference for this piece near Nederland Colorado around sunset time. I just loved how the aspens in the foreground framed the rest of the landscape and added a pop of color. I also really enjoyed how the clouds added some dynamic movement to the scene.

 
 

This piece is titled “Dancing Leaves” and is still available for purchase in my shop for $400. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE!

My next fall landscape piece was also inspired by one of my photos near Nederland but on a different hike. The lighting of this one is very difference because the sun had mostly set behind the mountains at this point so there were a lot of shadows and just a few spots of sunlight hitting the trees. The lighting on this scene got me really excited to create this great piece so I hope you enjoy it!

 
 

This piece is titled “Autumn Sunlight” and has been sold to a private collector! Don’t worry, there are more to come!

"As One" A New Terra Human Painting!

I'm proud to bring you my newest Terra Human painting "As One.” Whenever I reflect on my artistic process its always safe to say that I’ve chosen a profession that requires an incredible amount in internal motivation that solely depends on my personal drive and dedication , and while working on this piece I felt constantly driven and inspired to create something that surpassed anything I've ever created. And by creating small attainable steps for myself everyday I was able to accomplish what I set out to do! So here is the final product along with a description. Below these you will find some process photos along with some descriptions of my painting process.

Painting Description

In this piece humans and nature breath as one. The divisions that we have insisted on for generations have evaporated and we finally see ourselves reflected in the natural world that surrounds us. Plants, trees and moss start to grow with her body as her hands reach into the earth with humility and understanding. The curves and angles of her limbs are reflected in the surrounding landscape showing the balance we can achieve when we listen and reflect. As she sleeps her breath soars with the birds in the sky while her heartbeat synchronizes with the core of the earth.

Creation Process

Before approaching this painting I did a few studies first starting with a sketch, then a landscape study and lastly a figure study. When planning large paintings like this these studies become incredibly helpful in order to learn about your proportions, size ratios, values and colors. After the studies I laid out my composition with pencil on the canvas, making sure to measure out proportions early. Now that I had the pencil sketch I started to paint in small (bite sized) sections as to not get overwhelmed. I started with the figure because I knew she would be the most challenging part of the piece and I wanted to achieve a certain glow in her skin by layering paint. I very interesting tip that I recently discovered by painting many figure studies is that the face will always contain more pink color than the skin from other parts of the body. It creates a much more natural look!

Once I painted the figure to about 90% I started painting the surrounding landscape section by section paying special attention to color and value. The colors were very important in this piece, because they showed how the sunlight was hitting the mountain peak and illustrated the shadow below. Another key decisison that added to the realism of this piece was adding cast shadows behind the tress on the figure to show that this figure was indeed a part of this landscape and had her own weight and mass. And finally once I filled in each section of the surrounding landscape I evaluated the painting overall as a whole and make some small adjustments in order to make it feel cohesive and alive!

This lovely original painting is available to purchase for $3000 in my online shop! CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE!

Newest Terra Human in the Works!

Hi friends, while I was working on my recent commission I was just so inspired by the large scale of the piece that I decided to painting new newest Terra Human piece in a huge canvas! (24”x48” to be exact) Recently I’ve been in the habit of creating small to medium sized paintings because they can act of faster studies and they will be more affordable but I also think there is something to be said about investing a lot of time in a big project and using it to push your skills forward.

 
 

So here is a progress shot of this awesome project! This piece is almost complete as of now and I’m really excited to share it with you all soon!

Castle Rock Commission is Done!

My latest commission is done! I really enjoyed the tackling the challenges of this piece from it's massive scale, to the minuscule details of the houses to the fluffy clouds. Castle Rock is truly a beautiful area and I feel honored to recreate it as a painting. I hope you enjoy these photos and be sure to check out the time-lapse video at the bottom!

 
 
 
 

New Terra Human Study

Here is a new Terra Human study titled "Impending Storm" this piece explores how our internal world affects our external environment. As the storm develops and creates conflict in his mind so too does the storm gain power above him.

 
 

This piece started just as a figure study but while I was working on it I felt excited to push it further and experiment with it. I really enjoyed creating the environment around this figure and pushing my technique to make sure he seemed incorporated in it.

This piece is available to purchase for $250 in my online shop! CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE!

"Seeking Balance" A New Terra Human Painting

Hi friends, my newest Terra Human piece has been finished! And I thought this would be a good opportunity to share some progress photos and talk about my process when creating this challenging painting!

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When I initially laid out my shapes I accidentally over-estimated some things like the length of the figure and the height of the mountains. So I then needed to reshape these components while also starting to figure out my colors. The unfortunate part of my figure was that my reference photo was obviously not in this sunset environment so I had to adjust the colors and shadows of her skin to make it appear that she is actually being lit by this sunset.

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A huge component of this piece was the figure’s face. Her head was tilted back and to the side so this created some very challenging perspective with her features. After several tries I was able to capture her features and move onto the lace in the dress. The intricate threads in this dress were challenging but worth the struggle. I used a very small brush with long bristles so that I could create long smooth strokes. After all of the controlled details it was nice to then add in some abstraction and expressive strokes to create some movement. Once I felt close to being done I took a break from the piece and ended up coming back to it to enhance some of the colors in the sky and trees.

 
 

After many hours of work this is our final result! This original painting is available to purchase in my online store for $850. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE!

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