Who I am

I am a classically trained artist who specializes in contemporary realism portraiture of children.

What I do

It all began on my niece Elizabeth’s 4th birthday. She requested a princess dress and when she opened the present, her face lit up and she rushed to put it on. Emerging from her room in a baggy, gilded Belle dress, with satin gloves bunched on her slender arms and a plastic crown adorning her golden curls, she floated into the room in a daydream. I went to take her picture and she struck a regal pose, looking directly at me with the authority of a queen. That was the moment that I wanted to paint children from their perspective. To give them that autonomy of representation to be whomever they believe themselves to be, and to be taken seriously in their perspective.

My goal is to empower children to create their own self image, thus painting a picture not only of their likeness but of their interests and unique vision of their world.

Background

A lifelong student of the arts, I began my formal training starting at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where I stayed for 3 years before transferring to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and received my Certificate of Fine Arts in Painting in 2013. From PAFA, I continued my studies at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated with my Bachelors of Fine Arts in 2015.