Take a Moment and Try

What do you do and how can I find it?

I’m a visual artist based in Dallas, TX! I love painting and sketching all things from realistic to impressionistic. All of my work can be found on my website, or at the Laughing Willow in Bishop Arts!

How did you get started?

I began as an artist around my senior year in high school. I had always told people how awful I was at drawing, but then one afternoon I remember thinking, “I actually need to try this before I say I can’t do it.” After three hours of sketching, I proved myself wrong. I realized that I could actually draw, and pretty darn well! After that, I began drawing from old photographs and gradually shifted into ink drawings. From then on, I was hooked.

What is the coolest story about doing what you do?

Last summer I had the opportunity to go to Cambodia to teach several art classes to children in the cities of Phnom Penh and Kampot. These children had never had an art class before, or been taught how to paint. I was able to be the first person in their lives to introduce them to painting and it was by far the most amazing experience I’ve ever had.

Who (or what) is your biggest inspiration for your art?

The biggest inspiration for my artwork is usually nature and my environment. I love to not only focus on the natural element before me, but every sensory feeling that accompanies the moment. Many of my series have been based on either a scientific processes or a detailed natural element. I currently focus on using all of the senses to impact my drawings and paintings. This way, when I paint a scene, it’s not just a mountain or treeline, but it includes the emotion of the moment.

If you could give someone advice for doing what you do, what would you say?

My advice to anyone who is interested in pursuing the arts is to put the blinders on and just do it. You can tell yourself all day long what you are and what you aren’t good at, but that doesn’t make it true. The minute you say that you aren’t capable of doing something, that should be the moment you try. We are so used to putting ourselves down in this society, it’s almost popular to do so! So before you begin saying how terrible you are at drawing, before you say how un-creative you are, before you list the faults you so readily assume, take a moment and try. Because, most likely, you won’t be as bad as you thought.