I have spent my life obsessed with the unusual. The unsettling force of light in nature, the
random shapes of negative spaces, the enormity of the unknown.
For fourteen years I have held a dual role. I have been a freelance illustrator, working
with nationally known architects rendering their designs and concepts for their clients.
This has allowed me to also be a stay at home mother to four wonderful children whom I love,
nurture and cherish. Being home with them has led to many interesting personal self discoveries
but the isolation has been challenging.
My heart and head have been filled with vignettes and images during these long, quiet years.
And though I wouldn't change a single day, I couldn't do it over again.
Upon my youngest child entering school I felt called to paint these experiences, which I have
done exclusively for the past two years. To validate and honor the journey I had undertaken and
speak to its challenges.
Being at home made me feel, at times, like an alien. The angels and mothers in my paintings
are in a sense, self portraits. I know that I was not alone, yet there is an unspoken code
among those of us that make the choice to be home that if you breathe malcontent it somehow makes
you less of mother which leads to further anxiety and stress.
I more often than not felt trapped by my house, which is often shown in my work as a box, or
room that is too small to stand up in. My women are filled with despair, their eyes always
searching for a way out or focused on different things.
They represent the different archetypes of women and the choices we make.
Some are dangerous, some are safe, and some are irreverant. These choices can make us feel
like victims, which often I have. At the end of the day, however, we are our decisions.
They are who we become. Who we are. There is depth in all women, and we do what we need to
to salvage our sanity, through our vices and choices.
