Artist Statement

I love to draw and paint portraits of people. The expressions and unique features of a person’s face is something I find absolutely beautiful, and I want to capture it with my art. I’ve mainly worked in black and white charcoal, but my goal has been to broaden my mediums and work more in oil paint and color.

I first found my passion in portraiture when I was fourteen years old. I drew a photorealistic graphite portrait of my baby sister and gifted it to my parents, who then requested that I do portraits of the whole family. My father hung my portrait drawings in his office, and from there I received many commissions from those who had seen my drawings in his office and from the word of mouth. It wasn’t long after that I decided the fine arts is where I wanted to make my career.

During my incredible college experience learning under renowned and successful artists, I’ve been able to explore the different mediums available to me, many of which I had never tried prior to university, such as charcoal and oil paint, which just so happened to become my absolute favorite mediums to use. I’ve also explored different subject matters, finding enjoyment in landscape, still life, figure, and everything in between, but after much experimentation and practice, I’ve come back to my first and favorite subject: people.

Currently I am working on a series of personal portraits, referenced from quality old black and white photos I’ve found in my home of great grandparents, children, and other relatives. I am using oil paints, aiming to recreate that soft, black and white coloring that gives the piece that antique feeling. I will be working in full color when referencing some of the younger photos, which are depicted in color. The main challenge I am trying to overcome is only using high quality reference, which is why these family portrait photos have been an invaluable find. I am also doing several charcoal portraits, using my own original photo reference, meticulously captured with a quality camera, intentional lighting, and models of my choosing. I hope to also use some of these photos to do more full color oil paintings.

My hope is that with the enhancement of these skills and mastering of mediums, I will be able to make a career potentially entirely out of commissioned portraits. Since portraiture is my passion, a career involving such would make for the most fulfilling and enjoyable projects.