ARTIST STATEMENT: I began painting last fall and have since incorporated my interest in pattern, texture, and color with the use of faces, hands and bodies as my subject. I have worked on a series of portraits in which I took the shadows and shapes I examined in my subjects and re-imagined them using what interests me aesthetically. In the case of my photography, I enjoy digitally altering an image to try and enhance its subject. I have recently enjoyed photographing trees and then darkening the photograph to make the trunk and branches appear dark and solid. Visually, this gives the photograph distinct shapes and directions and allows the viewer to then spend time recognizing the colors and shapes around the tree. I want to continue painting, drawing and taking photographs and ultimately I would like to incorporate my poetry into projects involving one or more of these mediums.