These pieces are my personal interpretations of individuals in my life. Many of them are commissions, some are gifts and displays of gratitude. My recent body of work utilizes plants and flowers to represent growth. Growth from disease, growth from personal experience. Various anatomical features were chosen based on the people who commissioned each piece. My process involves creating a narrative of a person or time in their life.
16 x 24’’ ink, watercolor, gouache on watercolor paper
2021
An over share (as i do): I made this piece for my therapist. I started working with her in 2016, and our last session was before I moved to New Orleans for medical school.
The work is meant to be a combination of us, showing the growth I experienced throughout the years. The plants symbolize aspects of both of us. I chose the spine for growth, and strength. She truly is the connective tissue that helped me deal with countless medication changes, multiple clinical trials, painful but effective TMS, break ups, the trauma of my job. Brittany truly changed my life, helped me identify my values and how to serve them. She helped me become a more resilient person who can cope with depression in a way that I didn’t think was possible five years ago. More so she helped me see that I was and am a resilient person.
Leaving Houston is mostly a good thing, but the loss of our sessions together will be hard.
I know that I joke about being mentally ill because it helps me compartmentalize, and if you know me well I’ve probably told you to go to therapy because (with the right person) it is wonderful. If you needed a signal today or any day, please reach out to someone. In 2016, I didn’t think I would be alive in five years. We joked about me being a great patient outcome, but therapy is so much more than that.
The last thing I’ll say is that going to therapy is not easy, and is made infinitely easier when you have resources like a supportive family, a job, health insurance, and steady income. I could go on about insurance being tied to employment etc but I won’t. Overall it takes willingness to utilize these things, but I write this knowing not everyone has the privilege of access.
22 x 30’’ ink, watercolor, gouache on watercolor paper
2021
This piece is an original commission for a friend to embody emotions they had over the course of the pandemic.
The pandemic has left many of us feeling like there is a knot in our chest, anxiety filling out bodies, and the most we can do is hunch over and hold something close. Last year I made a body of work that was about uncertainty and trauma, and what can come out of it. This piece was personalized for a client to signify some of those anxieties, and the growth and recovery that develops during and after. For her, it was strength through family and pets. The things that keep us afloat are often the people in our lives, our families, our pets, and the work.
Texas Medical Center and Downtown Houston Skylines merged with a Surgeons’ pursuits. 2018-2019
16’ x 20’ | Gauche, watercolor, and ink | 2018
