Background Information
I was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky in 1977 and moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina in my teens. I have no formal art training. I started painting in watercolor and drawing at a young age and experimented with various media through my school years. It wasn’t until 2007 however that I found the focus and direction to paint regularly, as I began working with Canadian painter Brian Simons—a great artist, teacher, and friend. I’ve also benefited tremendously from the generosity of artist Steven Prewitt, whom I am proud to know as a mentor and a friend. This is a thrilling time for me to be holding a brush as all still seems fresh, and I can daily see my growth and development as a painter. I have exhibited in several juried shows around the Southeast in the past year. Presently, I have work in private collections in the US, Germany, and Great Britain and am represented by Broomfield Gallery in West Jefferson, NC and Bliss Home + Art in Knoxville, TN.

Artist Statement
In my paintings, I use saturated colors, abbreviated detail, and throbbing contrasts to create loose, simple compositions full of energy and joy. Although my work is representational, I am not particularly interested in recreating or even “capturing” a scene. I am interested in the unique emotional and even spiritual impact that paint on canvas can have on a viewer. So the recognizable forms aren’t engaged in narrative or symbolism; they are just convenient agents by which the paint works its own wonder. At its best, the result for me is a mix of profound joy and sadness—a longing. It’s an idea borrowed from C.S. Lewis who describes this kind of longing as "that unnameable something, the desire for which pierces us like a rapier at the smell of a bonfire, the sound of wild ducks flying overhead, the title of The Well at the World's End, the opening lines of 'Kubla Khan,' the morning cobwebs in late summer, or the noise of falling waves." I see this longing as God’s handiwork as He points us beyond the temporal cause of it, which cannot fulfill, back to Himself who can and does. No matter what the form, style, or medium, great art I believe should pierce in this way, and so I would be thrilled to know that someone found such an experience in a painting of mine some day.