magnolia blossoms

This pen and ink and colored pencil drawing was inspired by a sprig of magnolia blossoms that a friend brought to work last week--exquisite in color and form.

painting emotions

A few weeks ago I was sitting in a coffee shop with two artist friends, Garrett and Dan. We were talking about painting emotions and we were asking ourselves how you express intangible things--like joy or mystery or fear--with paint. How do color and texture, light and dark combine to communicate intangible things? Since that conversation, I've been contemplating different emotions and what they would look like if I painted them. My intense experiences with depression eight years ago came to mind very quickly and then, the thought of what hope can feel like in contrast. Today I sat down to paint them both.