Art is something I’ve always done ever since my childhood. I use art as an outlet for my emotions. Art gives me an outlet to cope with stress. It is difficult for me to overthink things when I am working on a piece. Ideas seem to come naturally to me and I am able to make things that represent who I am and what I am.  

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My art uses symbols from the Japanese heritage. I most often include koi and paper cranes. Koi represents luck and prosperity and paper cranes represent hope. I also adopted stylistic techniques from Japanese artists. Miho Hirano is my main inspiration. Miho Hirano usually paints asian women with oil pastel on canvas. Like Miho Hirano, I paint Asian women but I use acrylics or I draw them with Prismacolor pencils. Usually I try incorporate natural elements like fish and plants native to Japan. The pastel colors makes the painting pop out from others and brings in an interesting set of values in my paintings. I create value and balance in my paintings by using  light blue for shadows and pink around the eyes to make them pop out. The skin tones I usually work with tend to be pale and almost colorless which gives the picture a feeling of gloom behind it.  

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To start a new piece I start with a shape. The shape is usually a circle and from there I start creating values in the painting using blue for shadows and white for light areas. I work from there making the painting more and more detailed over time. Sometimes I use watercolors in the background to give the painting texture and to make it seem like the painting is underwater. I sometimes start with a color palette I like which I use to paint an interesting background. Then I start my process of drawing a shape and making something out of it. I find that when I start without a plan, the pieces I create reflect me more and show a specific part of me. Each painting is different and has different meanings.

I enjoy letting people take what they want out of my paintings and see what they want to see. I want people to get their own ideas and interpretations from my artwork and not be chained to one meaning per piece. I like having my pieces have an air of mystery around them because I want people to individually relate to the painting rather than understand how I feel related to the painting.

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