am a figurative painter who creates mythic allegories of contemporary and historical subjects. Whether I am painting a commissioned portrait or a self-portrait, I combine realism with myth, history, and art history to more fully represent the life of my sitter.

My paintings are rich with symbolism. I include flowers, butterflies, and other things from nature that communicate messages about the subject. These elements are interconnected with biographical references to tell a larger story about the sitter's life or place in history.

I recently finished a series called Seven Sisters. It includes seven watercolor self-portraits in the guise of women artists throughout time. In many cases, I seek to recreate a lost painting from an artist's career. By doing so, I enjoy the ultimate in role playing. I am simultaneously artist, model, historian, and art historian. Calling upon my training in art history, I meticulously research the artist's career as well as the material culture of her era: interiors, painting materials and methods, clothing, and things that she might have owned. Because each of these portraits of historical women artists is based on my own likeness, I am exploring my relationship to these important foremothers.

Currently, I am painting Seven Sisters II where I take on the role of seven historical nuns in the act of creating. Plautilla Nelli was an Italian 16th-century sister who painted large works for her convent and for outside patrons. One of the subjects will be embroidering, one painting an illuminated manuscript, and so on.

I am primarily working in watercolor, though my work ranges from drawing to oil painting, a recent collaboration in printmaking, and painted sculptural assemblage.