My Artistic Journey

Art has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My mother made jewelry for many years, and had a studio in the Anderson Alley arts building on 250 N Goodman Street in Rochester NY and would take my brother and me there when she went. We were surrounded by different artists and a loving art community growing up.

I took a drawing class at the Memorial Art Gallery when I was in middle school and then at Monroe Community College I took an intro to drawing class, but those are the only formal art classes I've taken. Art has mostly been a hobby for me as I've studied math, computer science and business. I've made art journaling a daily activity to keep me connected with art.

I've been recently studying composition and anatomy to improve my artwork. I'm trying to find my own art style, and have been trying out different mediums like acrylic, oil, gouache, water-based markers, and collage. The medium I've used the most has been acrylic paint, which I used to paint the paintings in this article.

Recently I've been painting from photographs of still lifes, but I've always wanted to try painting landscapes. I still need to improve on my simplification skills, as I often find myself overwhelmed by the amount of detail in nature. I hope to continue to grow as an artist as I develop this platform.

My favorite quote about art is by Georgia O'Keeffe:

"If I could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint."