My career began in 2013 in San Antonio, TX where I fell in love with painting pets in a Día de los Muertos style. Those early portraits were bursting with color, pattern and confidence that I finally discovered work that I enjoyed. I painted sugar-skull pets with bones, flower eyelashes and starry skies. My portraits were a bright celebration of beloved animals inspired by the Mexican culture that influenced so much of my art there. I remember hearing that San Antonio is said (with a wink) to be “The most Northern city in Mexico”. Mexican culture runs deep there, and I gladly let it influence my artwork. Those early paintings were happy and bold and they helped me discover my artistic voice. They also connected me with thousands of people who wanted to honor their pets who’d gone over the rainbow bridge in a way that felt joyful instead of heavy. I didn’t know it then, but those portraits would become the foundation for a long, evolving career.
When I moved to Colorado a few years later, my work shifted right along with me. The tastes of the residents of Colorado’s mountains, orchards and wide-open skies changed my marketing efforts, and little by little my pet portraits became more realistic and less stylized. After all, I make art in order to sell it – not hoard it at home. My colors stayed bright, but the animals grew truer to life with more detail and less symbolism. These portraits were quieter and more grounded, and they opened up a whole new path for my art.
Colorado also nudged me into landscapes for the first time. I started painting big skies and snow-dusted Colorado peaks of the North Fork Valley where I live and beyond. I painted the mountains, valley and the turning seasons right outside my studio window. These pieces became a way to hold onto the beauty I live in every day, and I was rewarded with recognition by my community. My mountain artwork now graces the labels of wine at Qutori Wines and in the Great Room and library of Paonia schools.
Then came the abstracts. What started as simple brain break from years of custom commissions grew into a full body of work filled with mid-century-modern-inspired shapes, layered color, texture and movement. I loved how freeing it felt (no rules, no likeness to match, just intuition, rhythm and design guiding me forward). These paintings balanced the detail of my portrait work with something spacious, modern and expressive. Again, I received recognition in the form of three of my abstracts being featured on wine labels – this time by 5680′ Vineyards.
Now, browsing through this online gallery and seeing the Día de los Muertos pets next to the realistic portraits, the landscapes next to the abstracts, I can trace the whole arc of my artistic life. Every piece represents a part of my history. Every brushstroke carries a story, and a memory of survival, joy and persistence. I’ve painted thousands of works over the years, each one part of the larger picture of who I am as an artist.
And the story isn’t finished. I’m still painting it.