At a young age I fell in love with stationary. I loved the colors, fonts, and the way the paper and pens felt. I also found a love and passion for drawing and creating at a young age, as well. This initial spark as a child has since grown and evolved as I have grown and matured. As an artist I am influenced by everything around me, allowing for the inception of inspiration everywhere. As I drive down the road I am always looking at colors used together on businesses, signs, houses, and the use of fonts and logos relative to that for which they are used. I inevitably find myself assessing them, and imagining how I could make it better or different.
By the age of 13 I became visually aware of my surroundings through a 35mm film camera. I loved the challenge of finding the right angle to fully capture the exact moment and feeling I felt when I took that photo. However, at this age I had no formal training in photography. I just knew I liked it, and loved the challenge of capturing the feeling of a moment.
I began college as a Visual Communications major, and then shifted to an Art Education major. I loved visual communications, but I was told in order to get a job in the area in which I lived that I would never find a job as a Visual Communications major. After the shift in majors I found myself falling in love with creating art within the art classes I was taking. I also fell in love with the style of teaching by a particular professor, before which I had never experienced. This, so much so, that the influence is reflected in my current teaching style today. Through an art and children course, I, for the first time, at 19 years old was allowed to fail in a safe environment. I had never truly previously failed at anything as a perfectionist growing up with high expectations. I have since applied this theory to many parts of life, including my Christian views. Everyone fails, but we must embrace the experience, learn, and do it better the next time.
I have an artistic style that is clean, inspired by cultural surroundings, and adaptable. I love the process of problem solving vis a vie a unique visual solution for a variety of clients. My formal training background in understanding the foundations of art and design is at the core of each design I create. Along with freelance design and photography work I am regularly called upon professionally to teach and create real world content in order to equip and train high school students to the best of their abilities, by opening up the ability to learn in a safe environment as I once experienced.
I have experience in the Graphic Design freelance profession, professional portraits, and wedding photography, combined with and alongside my teaching profession, for the last seven years.