Through painting and mixed media sculpture I merge nature and the human psyche, translating human emotion into the aesthetics of a dying plant. Working to highlight beauty in the grotesque, imperfection and the implausible I search out illusion to create my own reality. I am fascinated by decay and use it as a tool to create an environment that is at once ideal yet flawed. I express my empathy for the unwanted by highlighting the outcasts, the shunned, the tossed aside and trashed; the detritus of our lives and of society. I embrace the darker aspects of nature while making a connection to the human world by instilling a unique persona into each of my subjects. Ultimately, blending my external observations of nature with my internal world has worked to highlight the sometimes unseen beauty and purpose inherent in all.