Out of the Studio

I remember the thrill and ache of walking through my university’s art buildings before I had the gumption to declare myself an artist and actually join the fine arts department. During that time as a freshman, I found reasons to walk through their halls and wish they were my own, longing to move on from chemistry labs to charcoal-smeared fingers and fat textbooks full of old buildings and paintings by Caravaggio.

I brought my watercolor collection to New Zealand after college because it was lightweight and collected a few old books in used bookshops to sketch in. My dreams of a studio space were held loosely and patiently, and then my fellow house-seekers and I found a quirky but idillic rental in the next place I called home, the town I still find myself in. Apart from a spacious kitchen and buttery cream-colored walls, the home I have now lived in for more than two years has a spare room with plenty of space for an easel, drop cloths, and lots and lots of art supplies.

I spent a lot of time in this space in the beautiful, sunny months of July and August, trying to create some paintings worth calling honest and my own as well as relatable for others. These are the pieces that came about and were featured in my first solo show...






The next series of three I had printed at a large scale of 3' x 5' and were part of my Wanderlust Film project in college.





Also from college, this "RGB" trio was from my final painting class and completed the show: