I am a painter and writer, and my journey as an artist began torn between paint and pen: color and word. How do I combine my passions? I am fascinated by the enigma of beauty found in nature throughout the world. That question, of beauty, of the incomprehensible size of nature, and the power of the unknown. Reading William Wordsworth taught me that my obsession was and is the Sublime. The sublime being the grandeur of the world, the power nature has. The sublime is that thing that makes me stop and stare at a sunset, that steals my breath away when I see the suns crimson speckled sky, and makes me question the intricate nuances of nature. I feel compelled to express that wonder through writing and painting.

 

I think of Wordsworth now constantly when I paint, and how he saw the world. I create large scale panorama paintings because of the way they bend the landscape, emphasizing Wordsworth belief that our eyes can never fully grasp the grandness of the world. Studying Van Gogh helps to guide my explorations in my use of color. I use deliberate brush strokes in my work to bring a wider variety of textures to my paintings. When it comes to color I use a wider palette, and bring out color in places where I barely see it. As a painter I use color to express emotion, and as a writer I use color to capture emotion. This is where I’ve been building the bridge between my two passions, or at least its foundation. In short, I use an understanding of color and scale to translate the grandeur of nature and the emotion is creates.

 

What links my painting and writing is my love for each. They are both built upon passion, a desire to see more and understand more of this world through the human eye, and through the spirit that drives me to love the unknown. I find solace in the unknown, in the things I can never truly comprehend. If I could figure everything out, life would be dull, and rather meaningless. Some people want to know the ending to their story, I however, want to keep writing the pages. The world is larger than me or anyone, and that makes all the strives in my life seem so small. I process each of these thoughts into every brush stroke, every word struck to paper, and the color, I believe, brings it all together. Words help me express to others how I feel, while painting lets me show them what I see when I look upon this world in all its sublime.