In particular, I find nostalgia, daydreams, and dreams to be incredibly powerful. They have the ability to evoke such strong feelings and emotions. Through them you can fall in love, feel happy, sad, angry, or find utterly profound beauty. I spend a great deal of time living in my head, letting my thoughts go where they need to. Images sometimes flash before my mind's eye, and a story starts to unfold, allowing me to catch a split-second glimpse into something. These pictures and stories leave behind pieces, accompanied by a mood and feeling. I'm interested in these glimpses, and the feelings surrounding them, and that is part of what I'm after in my creative process. In my attempt to re-create them however, I often discover something completely new along the way. These are the moments in painting that I find especially beautiful; watching the unexpected emerge. Making paintings requires a certain state of mind or a certain state of being, which I need to feel before I go into a picture. Most often when I begin, I have no plan. I just start working, using the fragments from these stories, dreams and feelings as a point of departure. From there it becomes almost improvisational, each mark or action informing the next. I work quickly and spontaneously, improvising in much the same way I create music. My goal is to attempt to make some sense out of my inner world, as well as the things I notice in day-to-day life. Painting and drawing allow me to further examine who I am, and the world I live in.