The heart has always intrigued me. It is not only the most
important muscle in the body. The heart is symbolically the
box that holds the deepest of individual human feelings,
memories, desires, loves, hopes, dreams, and fears. Due to my
name and decorative potentials it entailed, I have been
surrounded by hearts my whole life. My mother purchased
and made over fifty hearts which spotted the walls of all of my
childhood bedrooms. They were made of wood, lace, straw,
herbs, and bows. Now I make them out of clay and paint.
Although the visual shape is made of simple, curving lines,
there is nothing simple about the human heart. I attempt to
explore the human heart in my pieces which often incorporate
the heart shape. The majority of my pieces are imaginative,
whimsical, colorful, and often light-hearted, but occasionally a
darker and deeper painting emerges.
I love texture, so both my paintings and sculptures have
lumps, and chunks, and sometimes spikes. I paint with
acrylics and apply mixed media to the canvas, also
incorporating collage techniques. I find inspiration even in the
ordinary finding hearts in oil spills and cacti. I have also been
inspired by the simplistic paintings of Milton Avery.
