From the artist: "I turn my head to the left to find my uncle speaking. His hands and arms are animated as my family listens to him in quiet amusement. I turn to the right to see my niece in the distance crying over... anything. My mind wanders as my father sits down to talk aimlessly, his voice soft and welcoming. Does he care whether I am listening?These instances, so easily neglected due to their familiarity, are now the focus of my practice. I use acrylic on canvas and paint figures in an academic approach. The twenty- first century has made it possible to look at family/friend's photos with such frequency it seems impossible for me not to reflect on it. My portraits study emotion using facial expressions as a window to thoughts. Body language indicates intent. Despite this objective approach, there resides a nostalgic sensibility. This approach is based on the influence of the German Expressionists, artists such as Egon Schiele, Käthe Schmidt Kollwitz, and Max Beckman. I have always found their roots buried in emotion, cutting away all excess, leaving the purest form of human expression. My effort is to touch on this sensation not through depicting atrocities, but looking at moments easily disregarded by causal perceptions."