I find myself daydreaming a lot. In a state of dreaming, whether awake or asleep, I can ponder on the thoughts and emotions that stay bottled up inside from the build-up of everyday life. I think about identity, mental health, and the overall human experience - themes that are often present within my art. I explore ways to express these inner thoughts of dreaming through creating and painting otherworldly figures and spaces. The way in which I use paint in my work contributes to how I express the feelings and themes that come from dreams. We are familiar with the things we dream about, but cannot control what happens in them. I am currently experimenting with acrylic paint in a way in which I have limited control. I use a technique of wetting and staining the raw canvas with acrylic paint, allowing a figure to slowly emerge and transform as I work on a painting. Once I make a mark on the canvas, there is no going back. I am learning to take risks, allow for mistakes to happen and work with them as I go. There is a shift between unpredictability and control, blurs and hard edges within the figures, and their dreamy and unfamiliar environment. This way of painting leaves a feeling of uneasiness, but excitement and wonder for what is to come next; it keeps me eager to keep exploring the painterly world in which I am creating for these figures to exist.

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