I create oil paintings on canvas of interior and exterior spaces with muted and minimal color palettes. My paintings start out from photographs of man-made subjects in my daily life with inorganic lines and strong sources of light. I enjoy simplifying and exaggerating different aspects in the work such as the colors, the subject, and the lighting. My lighting references Edward Hopper’s work as well as the idea of how isolation is depicted and can be read as either comforting or lonely. I also play with impasto and contrasting thickly placed paint in areas and smooth blends throughout the paintings. I employ contrasting marks such as precise lines and fully blended areas with thicker, more obvious brushstrokes like Berthe Morisot’s work. Using the alla prima method with french ultramarine mixed with permanent alizarin furthers the philosophical idea of time and it’s constant, unrelenting nature. This opens up the conversation between mental health issues and its connection with every day life. Mental health has been romanticized and ostracized but instead my work discusses it on a scale that everyone struggles with including myself. If only for one single moment, my paintings express acceptance of the mundane and the struggles that come along with it. The content of my work focuses on sadness and peace, finding comfort in small moments, and spaces that are quiet in an intimate yet widely felt way.