PF: Who or what has influenced your work the most?
It’s hard to pinpoint one thing. Literature and poetry have definitely played an important part, and I think the rhythms of language transpose quite naturally into a visual practice. Seeing 'Dark Strokes Hope' by Joan Snyder at the Tate was also crucial in changing the way I thought about painting and process.
PF: Walk us through your creative process?
Almost all of my paintings start as drawings, so the first step is always sketching either from life or from my imagination. I like to sketch most while doing other things, so that subconscious ideas or forms can emerge. From these initial sketches I can usually tell what will work as a painted composition, but of course the process of putting brush to canvas always transforms the work into something else.
PF: What do you want people to feel or take away from your art?
I would love for my art to allow a moment of pause, or a moment of reflection. Really, though, what people take from my work is not for me to decide; I love being surprised by how differently people can experience the same image.
PF: If you could have dinner with any artist who would it be?
If I had to narrow it down to one, it would probably be Natalia Goncharova. She was a big inspiration to me early on in my painting journey and I adore the way she flows between different subjects and mediums, especially when it comes to her set and costume designs.