Dutch Alley Artists French Quarter

As a young adult, I worked as a carpenter, a cabinet maker and a house painter.  Demand for these skills dramatically increased following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and I spent the next 10 years renovating homes. 

Inspired by my creative drive and desire to reduce waste, I began salvaging construction debris and transforming

it into found object art.  

In 2018, I began exploring the art of fine painting with acrylics.

I taught myself painting techniques and moved into a style I think of as "paint assemblage".  Years of assembling junk metal helped me develop a different way of seeing shapes, texture, pattern, and space. I approach painting in a similar way, applying brush strokes to canvas as if they were pieces of a puzzle.  

I paint on canvas with acrylics, using brushes and a palette  knife.   Mixed media pieces can include wood, paper, glass, metal, clay, resin, and foam.   

  I work from photographs and scenes from my imagination.  My paintings are created with a vision of disassembling an image and reconstructing it with "pieces of paint" using vibrant colors, shapes, lines, dashes, and dots.

I enjoy spending time in nature and many of my pieces are influenced by Louisiana's cultures and landscapes. 

I was introduced to the wetlands as a child and began explorations by foot on walking trails and by canoe in the Barataria Preserve.  I was drawn to the swamp due to its magical and mysterious nature, as it is a unique ecosystem which supports diverse wildlife and plant life.

Louisiana themed subjects, such as swamp landscapes, native animals, flowers and birds continue to inspire.