The Story Behind the Layers

I have learned to trust the layers.

Every painting begins with curiosity and slowly becomes a conversation between intention and discovery. I build surfaces only to sand them away, hide words only to let fragments reappear, and welcome unexpected marks that emerge along the way. What first appears lost often becomes the very thing that gives a painting its voice. 

​Working in acrylic and mixed media, I create each piece through layers of paint, collage, texture, scratches, sanding, and translucent veils of color. Rather than hiding what came before, every layer becomes part of the paintings history. Some marks disappear forever, others quietly return, creating moments of discovery that cannot be planned or repeated. 

​For twenty-five years, I worked as a registered nurse, most of them in the unpredictable rhythm of an emergency department. Those years taught me that life is rarely tidy. Chaos and calm, loss and hope, vulnerability and resilience often exist in the same moment. Although my painting are abstract, they are deeply informed by those experiences--not through literal imagery, but through the process itself.​

I have come to embrace uncertainty in the studio. I no longer try to control every outcome, instead, I allow accidents, erosion, and time to become collaborators. Each painting evolves through a series of choices, discoveries, and rediscoveries until it reveals something that could never have been planned from the beginning.​

There is no single story hidden within my work. Instead, I hope each painting invites you to slow down, wander through the layers, and discover your own memories, emotions, and connections. Every viewer sees something different, and that is part of the conversation.​

Every painting carries evidence of where it has been. I believe people do too.

​That is why I paint--not to erase what came before, but to discover what remains.