Connect What is your favorite type of art to create?

I create hyper-realistic soft pastel work focused on organic forms, especially fruit. I’m drawn to contrast, beauty and tension, control and release. My work often captures a moment of rupture, a drip, a split, something just beginning to give way. It pulls the viewer in with realism, then holds them there with something slightly unexpected. I want people to feel something before they even understand why.

Where do you find inspiration?

I find inspiration in ordinary subjects that hold hidden tension. Fruit, light, texture, and that moment just before or after change. A surface breaking, juice dripping, something shifting from whole to exposed. I’m interested in that emotional edge, where something is still beautiful, but no longer untouched. That contrast is what drives my work.

What would you do with $25,000?

I would invest in elevating my work to a higher level, professional framing, stronger presentation, and entering juried exhibitions where it can be seen by the right audience. I’d also create a focused body of work that pushes this concept further. Most importantly, it would give me the freedom to dedicate real time to my art and move from creating when I can, to creating with intention.