I have been drawing ever since I can remember. I was creating abstract paintings with tempera paint before I could even tie my own shoes, and I continue to pursue this interest in art that has been familiar to me my whole life. I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska and have lived throughout the midwest. I am currently a junior at the University of Wyoming and I plan on graduating in 2011 to receive my BFA. After college I plan on going to graduate school to continue studying art and to receive a masters in painting and drawing.

I am primarily a two dimensional artist and I prefer painting, drawing, and design over most other visual arts. Acrylic and oil paints are my favorite mediums to work with when it comes to painting and charcoal is my preferred medium for drawing. Most of my work is purely subjective. I do not consider my work to follow any particular style or theme, mostly because I like to explore many different areas of expression, but also because I have not yet established what you might call a personal style. My work is greatly influenced by the things I am learning in school and the artists that inspire me, and much of my work comes from my imagination.

The visual world of my childhood was consumed in the world of cartoons and I was obsessed with the comic book art of Marvel Comics. As a child my time was consumed in applying crayola markers and crayons to computer printing paper---endlessly recreating images of cars, dinosaurs, machines, comic book characters, and the countless other things that fascinated me visually. In high school I was opened up to the art of surrealism, post-impressionism, art of the psychedelic ear, modernism, postmodernism, graffiti and the drawings of masters like Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, Rubens, and so on. Salvador Dali was the artistic edification of my life.

Today these things still dominate the foundation of my artistic tastes and inspirations and the extravagant coloration of many of the styles listed are echoed in my own artwork. I am still mesmerized by the coloration of many surrealist works, psychedelic art, and other styles, and this bold use of color is the driving force in most of my work. Unusual content is also common in my work. Ultimately none of my work is very challenging, but is purely based on aesthetics, despite any thinking that may be applied to content or subjects. More recently, though, I have been challenging myself to create work that is more subjectively dynamic and work that creates a message or a challenge for the viewer rather than an emotional reaction alone.