Growing up as an only child taught me how to spend hours on end with my imagination leading the way--writing stories, poetry and doing artwork. Since I can remember, I have always loved colors. My parents have always really encouraged me to continue drawing, so I have. My earliest art career was the yearly Christmas card designer. It started when I drew my first Christmas scene at 5 years old and after that, every year, I would pick a new idea to draw for our Christmas card. Sometimes I'd plan it for months, but sometimes save it for only a few weeks or days before the deadline. The creation of a new idea with the same theme--something related to Christmas or the spirit of the holiday--became more difficult as time went by, but the most grueling of tasks was the hand coloring of each and EVERY card before being mailed out. The whole family did take part in this process, but we sometimes sent over 100 cards out, so it was a big task. This career ended when I turned 15 and life became entirely more important than my drawing. Only sporatic art inspirations occured during high school, but I did take the basic classes.
I have studied various artists and taken courses, but I find that my emotional spirit and the nature around me are really what propel me into creation. Extreme emotions materialize upon the canvases and I find traces of my artistic inspirations between the strokes.
When asked about my art, the most important elements are the colors and the emotions. Therefore, I find that I identify with Expressionism the most. The vivid colors and intense personal content evoke this art movement, but the ideas and images are often surreal or dreamy.
While my main focuses in the university were Psychology and Spanish, as opposed to art, these areas can be seen in every art piece. The influence of Latin American cultures plays a significant role in many of my art pieces because of my admiration for the different cultural traditions and beliefs that I have studied and experienced throughout my travels in the Americas. Psychology and psychoanalysis also highly affected me, to such an extent, that art has often been an emotional outlet for me not only in terms of expression, but also in terms of realization. On more than one occasion I have understood my life situations better after having finished a painting. They are always inspired and related to my life or my dreams--several paintings were direct adaptations from vivid dreams. I find that all of the content in my art holds meaning and is intentional on some level of consciousness but that the reason behind the art is not always immediately evident.
More of my earlier work has influences from Mexico due to living in Oaxaca for a period. More recent paintings have been greatly influenced by Brazil, the music and the culture as it is where my soul blossomed and where my heart continues to beat to the seductive rhythms of Brazilian music.
