“As a child, a friend of my parents was over.  I knew he was an artist. I traced the cover of a Charlie Brown coloring book, and he called me on it. He told me that I could draw it---and I did.  I felt powerful. I was amazed that I could do that.
“Like most artists, I was locked in my room lost in art while other kids played sports. Private drawing lessons did not last long. I know now that the teacher was trying to teach me art fundamentals, but at the time I didn’t understand what shadows on a Styrofoam ball had to do with anything that mattered to me.
“High school art classes tempted me briefly, but the private Catholic school I attended did not put a high value on art. Convinced that I could never make a living as an artist, I focused on college prep. I attended University of New Orleans for one semester and dropped out.
“Coerced by a friend to attend a local community college, I found a perfect fit in the art department there. I still remember the drawing, a graphite sketch of two hands with interlocking fingers that I was working on when I realized that I could capture the essence of the person in a sketch of his hands. From that point on, I knew: I am an artist. I returned to UNO and graduated with a BFA with a concentration in painting.
“From that point forward I have been able to work mostly in commercial art, and later in web design, either in a 9 to 5 job or as a freelance artist, but always with effort on creating my own original works on the side. I sometimes choose pencils, or a camera to create images, but I always return to painting. Some people work out their tangled relationships, hopes, doubts and fears in their dream life. I work mine out with a brush and oils on a canvas.
“In 2004, I finally created a real workspace for myself. Not long after, I created a piece called “Constant Craving,” a somewhat disguised self-portrait of a naked woman crawling on a wire grid, reaching precariously for a creamy, pink cupcake. It can be interpreted as a commentary on the discomfort that women go through, the temptations and the yearnings we have, but sometimes it’s just a snapshot of a woman and a cupcake.
“It was also in 2004 that I accepted a commission to paint a canvas, a surreal, dreamy Dalmatian in a fire station, for a New Orleans restaurant called FIRE. That began a series of commissions of dog portraits which have led me to being able to support myself for a time as a full-time painter.
“Now I balance time between painting, sewing, cooking, my family, and my dog, Lula. Always, in the back of my mind, is the next painting.”

Mississippi Arts Commission  MAC Fellowship Recipient Show  Jackson, MS

Solo Show “Fall Art Walk”  The Thirsty Hippo Hattiesburg, MS

Escape 2 Create Residency Recipient Seaside, Florida

2014

2012

Mississippi Arts Commission Minigrant recipient

Andy Warhol Foundation Grant recipient through the Mississippi Arts Commission