Portfolio
Stories Made Tangible

Created as a memorial portrait honoring the life of a fellow artist, this piece was painted not only to preserve her likeness, but to reflect the creative spirit she left behind. Inspired by her own bold use of color and expressive visual language, the portrait becomes both remembrance and artistic dialogue—an act of honoring one artist through the language she loved most. Rather than reflecting my typical portrait style, this work intentionally leans toward her artistic voice, allowing memory and creation to meet in tribute.

Come. explores grief as a threshold: the fear of approaching what we cannot know, and the possibility of being accompanied toward it without being given certainty.

A buck moves through a dark, tangled forest toward an opening of light, turning back mid-stride to meet the viewer’s gaze. The gesture is intentionally unresolved. Come. might be an invitation, a command, a compulsion, a spell, an omen, or a prayer. The animal offers no explanation for where it is going or what lies beyond the threshold.

The surrounding forest is rendered almost entirely in black, white, and gray, with rough fiber, layered paint, and dimensional texture forming brambles around a path that has been traveled and cleared. The buck’s antlers carry the painting’s concentrated color. Sculpted flowers, vines, and foliage gather within them alongside strips of burgundy fabric that peel away as shedding velvet. The contrast between growth, exposed antler, and shedding material makes transition physically present in the work.

Light gathers at the threshold, catches the buck’s eyes and body, and moves across the path. It draws the eye forward without revealing what exists beyond it.

Come. does not resolve what the threshold means or where the buck is leading. It leaves that encounter with the viewer.

When light passes through the canvas from behind, remnants of the original magenta underpainting become visible beneath the dark forest, shifting into warm reds and oranges. Areas that appear nearly black under ordinary light begin to glow, revealing another visual layer embedded within the painting.

Eye of the Storm is a memorial painting honoring a loved one through symbolism of strength, perseverance, and untamed spirit. The charging Appaloosa moves through lightning and chaos as a reflection of grief itself—powerful, disorienting, and still carrying us forward.

Created in honor of a fellow queer death doula, In Their Light celebrates the vibrancy, tenderness, and unmistakable presence they bring to end-of-life care. Rendered in electric, radiant color, the portrait intentionally centers vitality rather than solemnity—reflecting the truth that those who companion others through death often carry immense life, warmth, and creative spirit. The halo-like glow evokes both reverence and individuality, honoring queer identity and the sacred labor of witnessing others through profound transition.

Created as an intimate portrait of my dog Henry, this colored pencil piece captures the quiet companionship animals offer during moments of vulnerability. What began as a personal reflection on comfort and bodily care has taken on deeper resonance through anticipatory grief—becoming a meditation on protection, devotion, and the silent ways beloved companions keep watch over us.

Afterglow was created during a chapter of deep love, unlearning, and becoming. In daylight, the piece holds stillness, softness, and the quiet companionship that kept me grounded. Under ultraviolet light, hidden constellations, cracks in the moon, and luminous growths emerge—revealing what grief often teaches: that nothing truly disappears.

We carry forward what was love, what was healing, and what continues to transform us.

Some things are visible right away. Others reveal themselves only when we’re ready.

Created while processing the grief of a relationship ending, Afterglow is a visual journal of what remains unseen until darkness reveals it. By day, the portrait holds sorrow in stillness—memory, nature, and the quiet companionship of a familiar. Under ultraviolet light, hidden truths emerge: fractures in the moon, constellations sparked to life, and emotional residue that lingers just beneath the surface. Reflecting the layered visibility of queer relationships, this piece explores the duality of healing—the parts we show the world, the hidden afterimages love leaves behind, and the emotions that transform in the dark.

Community memorial installation for Symponia Hospice

A multi-sided illuminated memorial installation honoring the patients and families accompanied by Symponia Hospice. Through light, poetry, symbolism, and texture, mixed media, this piece reflects guidance, compassion, transition, and the enduring love that remains.

Inspired by Puu, the spirit beast from Yu Yu Hakusho—a creature whose form evolves in response to the inner growth of its human counterpart—A Soul’s Familiar reflects my longstanding fascination with symbolic companions, transformation, and emotionally meaningful objects.

Created before I had language for much of my current work, this piece now feels like an early expression of themes that continue to shape my practice: meaning-making through objects, the blending of narrative symbolism with functionality, and the creation of companions that offer comfort, ritual, and reflection.

As a functional incense holder, the sculpture transforms an everyday ritual into something more intentional—a small act of pause, grounding, and presence.

It also reflects my love of crossing mediums and aesthetics: sculpture, storytelling, whimsy, symbolism, and practical design meeting in one object.

Though playful in form and rooted in fandom inspiration, the emotional core remains deeply aligned with my larger body of work: creating pieces that hold feeling, memory, transformation, and relationship.

Inspired by Puu from Yu Yu Hakusho © Yoshihiro Togashi / Shueisha, Pierrot

This piece is a dedication to my enslaved ancestors—their grief, rage, resilience, and survival. Cotton, a symbol inseparable from forced labor and generational trauma, becomes engulfed in flame not only as destruction, but as transformation. The fire represents both mourning and power: what was meant to consume instead becoming illumination. Their suffering is not the end of the story. Their light becomes the torch guiding my future.

Inspired by a scene from the television series Queen Sugar, Angels Prosper explores tenderness, grief, and emotional inheritance between Black men. Drawn to the quiet intimacy of this moment between mentor and mentee, I wanted to honor a kind of vulnerability that is too often denied visibility—particularly within portrayals of Black masculinity. Their closeness holds both comfort and ache: shared sorrow, earned trust, and the unspoken language of being witnessed by someone who understands. Through painterly texture and deep blue tones, this piece reflects on intergenerational care, the weight men carry, and the rare power of being held within grief rather than alone inside it.

Painted during an early period of experimenting with both watercolor and self-expression, First Cut: Self, In Draft captures a moment of becoming rather than arrival. Created around the time I first cut my hair and began exploring my relationship to gender more intentionally, the unfinished quality remains part of the truth of the piece—a study in identity, experimentation, and allowing the self to exist mid-transition.

Created as an intimate gesture during a season of hopeful connection, this piece began as an offering of care when conventional giving wasn’t financially possible. Painted in watercolor, the bouquet reflects tenderness, intention, and the creativity that can emerge when affection seeks expression through handmade means. Though not originally conceived as grief work, the piece has taken on new meaning over time—becoming a quiet reflection on longing, uncertainty, unrealized possibility, and the emotional weight that can live inside even the gentlest offerings.