In my work, I use oil paint to capture the likeness and expression of my models. The people in these portraits all have a personal significance to me, they are close friends, family members or people I admire. I start a painting by asking my model to give me a specific expression, but not telling them exactly how to represent their face. Letting my models be themselves and interpret the expression through their own emotions allows for me to create a sense of individuality among each painting. Through painting, I attempt to also capture the personality of each of my muses with confident brush strokes and vibrant colors. Adding the model’s personality into the requested expression, further pushes a sense of individuality between these portrait paintings. These larger scale works make the subjects larger than life in order to create a presence to the viewer and emphasize the emotion in the expressions painted.
In my most recent body of paintings, I am focusing on capturing old memories in paint. Pulling from old photos and images I have taken of close friends and family I attempt to capture my subject's personality and emotions they were feeling at that moment in time.