My fascination of representing the essence of life has led me to my current practice of integrating fabric piecing and portraiture. Experiments in live portrait sketching and painting directly on repurposed fabric has pushed me toward acrylic paint. Pastel dye sticks guide edges and inform the brush where to land. Cutting into the painted fabric reduces the image into custom patches that can be reassembled with fabric scraps to tell a different story, more complicated and sweeping. Assembling colors and shapes is like painting with fabric. Top stitches create an additional layer of intrigue, informing the viewer with directionality and connectivity. 

Combining fabric scraps and live painting helps to create an interpretation of complicated life experiences and an opportunity for infinite storytelling to the viewing audience.