9 × 16 oil on Panel
Framed

“Years ago I did the drawing for ‘Awake’ in my sketchbook and have been thinking about turning it into a painting ever since but, like many personal pieces, it kept getting put on the backburner until the right moment. Finally last year II looked at the drawing, immediately knew what I wanted to do with the paint and made it happen!

Dryads and nature spirits have always been a subject of fascination for me and are a theme I often return to. I think of these spirits as the personification of my muse in many ways and usually when I get drawn to this theme, it means I’m headed towards a bit of a metamorphosis in my work. This painting led me down a lot of fun little rabbit holes with color with lots of glazes and layers that I usually don’t have the time to explore but were really rewarding on this piece because it just glows like stained glass when the light hits it just right. It was also an opportunity for myself to allow more of the freehand drawing from my original sketch to show through as well which is something I’ve been enjoying incorporating more in my work. There’s a level of trust in my own drawing that has strengthened from working on this piece and I can’t wait to see how it manifests in future work.”