Peonies

I started this piece knowing I wanted a gathering—ducks, geese, something with glow and contrast and a little chaos, and ended up being one of my happiest pieces. It took years. I kept adding details, then pulling them back, chasing a feeling I couldn’t quite name. Eventually, it clicked: the lineup felt alive, like they…

I painted this as a gift, starting with photobashed references and building out the scene from there. I added water, birds, ruins, and subtle hue shifts throughout to make it feel a little surreal—like a dream you can almost remember. The elephant is the centerpiece, standing calm in the middle of something ancient and overgrown….

This was a gift for an ex—kind of. We went on a date to the koi pond at Hahn Horticulture Garden, and I was inspired to paint this. It was my first time trying to date seriously, and I did everything “right,” waiting for feelings to show up. They didn’t. He didn’t. I let him…

This cow made me smile the second I saw it, and I kept smiling the entire time I painted it. I wanted something that felt jolly and ridiculous in the best way—so I leaned into the exaggerated perspective, pushed the colors brighter, and gave the snoot all the wet, shiny detail it deserved. The curls…

This painting began as an exercise in light, but it turned into something gentler — a moment of calm between the shepherd and his flock. I wanted the morning to feel new, fragile, and full of quiet purpose. The figures don’t speak, yet their closeness says enough. The shepherd looks at his sheep, and not…