I am fascinated by complex changing patterns and textures and complicated tangles, knots, and webs in the material world, which often show up in my abstract oil paintings. I observe and study the connections between things, both in the material world, like vines tangling together and searching for structure and support, but also conceptually like how culture and history are deeply entangled. My abstract oil paintings emerge as a way of thinking and the process is necessary for me to make sense of the world and to better understand myself as a neurodivergent adult. Each work is an artifact of me knowing and being in the world through painting and creating… a kinesthetic-onto-epistemology I call Creative Materialism.

My process and work can be understood through new materialist theory: relational, material, and emergent. I apply and remove layers of oil paint glazes with brushes, rags, solvents, and even my fingers, to create patterns and textures on the canvas. I let the canvas dry between layers as I build forms, patterns, deep dark areas, and sparkling highlights as well as motion. Viewers tell me they enjoy getting lost in the layers of patterns that keep their eyes moving and are often deeply moved emotionally.

I often start with a concept, like in the painting “Entropy”, and use the painting process to understand aspects of the idea or theory. I am an avid photographer as well, constantly taking pictures and videos to study details of the natural world (images below) that many people miss, which later emerge in my painting forms. I am also a researcher and writer, which are also an important part of my process as a repetitive cycle that is all entangled together. “Entropy” reflects this messy iterative process, with orange/red ribbons, green vine-like forms, and blue structures twisting and knotting with each other.

The final image emerges from my interactions with the paint, brushes, canvas and even the weather as well as feedback from viewers. Painting is very visceral and sensory for me as an autistic-ADHD woman and has been since I started oil painting at age 10. I experience monotropism or deep autistic focus while painting.

Additionally, I am extremely color sensitive, and I was influenced by modern painters like Van Gogh, Georgia O’Keefe, and Mark Rothko. My images also reflect my deep interests in science fiction and fantasy, and I paint possible alternative worlds. My glazing techniques goes back to my years of faux finishing on walls using acrylic paint and glazes, which I now apply to my canvases using oil paint and glazes that allow for mixing and blending.

Currently, I am synthesizing my arts-based research practices with my studio painting and sharing videos of the process. My goals are to continue to understand myself and give other people insights into the neurodivergent mind-body, ultimately to help reduce the stigma associated with autism and ADHD. I am seeking exhibition spaces to share my body of work.