Stuffed

oil on panel, 16x20, 2025

I spotted this jar of chili stuffed olives at the grocery store and couldn't walk past it. The red lid, shapes distorted through glass, the briny promise inside. I brought it home and posed it in the July sun. Olives are a childhood memory I still return to often.

I am a Seattle-based oil painter specializing in still life realism. My recent work centers on found glass objects sourced from thrift stores and local markets throughout Washington State. Through close observation and deeply saturated color, I paint these humble objects as large-scale portraits, traces of everyday life shaped by use, light, and time. My paintings reflect values I hold deeply: attentiveness, reuse, and reverence for what already exists. I'm drawn to glass for its tensions, fragile yet enduring, utilitarian yet luminous.

With over 20 years as a fashion and technical apparel designer, I trained my eye on detail, from the twist of a thread to the way fabric drapes on a body. That meticulous attention to form and texture now carries into my oil paintings, a practice I returned to more fully in 2020. I'm fascinated by how subtle shifts in light and color can make a flat surface feel three-dimensional and alive. My work has been exhibited and sold in group shows across Washington, Oregon, and California, and King County recently acquired a painting for its public archives.