Jupiter

I have wanted to be a painter since my first art class at six. I decided I would paint every day while listening to music, and I never changed my mind. Afraid of not making it as an artist, I compromised and became a designer for over a decade. What I didn't have was a subject. I tried many techniques without finding one I wanted to keep painting, or a voice that could evolve as I evolved. Until Jupiter came into my life in May 2019.

Jupiter and I don't share a language. What we have is the gaze, and that non-verbal connection is what I paint: the positive energy radiating through it. Half of this series is Jupiter. I work in acrylic on canvas at human scale, so his micro-expressions are amplified and the world is just us.

The other half are dogs I met in life and through social media, dogs I felt connected to, most of them rescues. What I love about dogs is that no matter how awful they have been treated, you still find light and hope in their gaze.

That light is what I am trying to capture in my paintings.