Picnic by Candlelight, 2025

Mixed Media

24” x 30”

The Story of the Series, Moments

The artwork in this series of paintings titled Moments, are inspired by the moments, both small and large, that influenced my life over the past year. Not only does this collection memorialize instances in time, but also shows my growth as an artist, taking a mixed media approach to some of the artistic styles that I have engaged in during my creative journey. I grew up exclusively drawn to creating art by pencil, and didn’t discover my love for painting until I was an adult. I was too intimidated by the idea of experimenting with color to make a composition come together, but once I let loose, I found a love for it. This collection addresses the early stages in my art career where I leaned heavily into integrating collage work with abstract representational paintings as well as plays into my love for drawing. Ink drawing, specifically, was something I started to embrace as a quick sketch practice to capture my experiences when traveling and out in nature. Each mixed media piece takes on an abstract play on emotions and color palettes inspired by places where specific moments took place. When observing each painting in this series, you are getting a snapshot into aspects of my life that make me, me as well as the foundations I have built to create art that I am truly proud enough of to share with an audience such as yourself.

The Story of the Painting, Picnic by Candlelight

The moment depicted in this painting, is from an impromptu evening picnic, on a throw blanket on the living room floor. Taking objects from around the house — picnic basket, flowers, candlesticks, and decorative trays — to set a scene and make up for not being able to shill out the big bucks for a Valentine’s dinner out. The arrangement was set only as an accoutrement to the cheese board selection and cheap wine all picked up from Aldi not too long before. The colors, lines, and shapes in this piece are pulled from the details of the night — the yellow blanket set with geometric designs, the green of the wine bottle, the silver of the trays.

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