Definitely definitely go eat at Sugar & Twine, best cookies, best sandwiches, best people <3 I worked with the owner to select a range of birds native to the area, all gathering nesting material appropriate to their species, flying together to build a nest at the center “&” of the logo.

Painted for a tiny pizzeria / bakery / cafe tucked into a corner of Bolivia, on the town square in Copacabana. 

My friend Ellie and I threw this cutie up in just NINE HOURS! Basically from sunup to sundown (winter sunlight, what can i say) we did some quick painting and decision-making, not to mention learning how to use spray paint for the first time. The design is based on a print Ellie did of this neighborhood (Bushwick), smooshed with my Thrive motif.

This is a communal wall offered by a spray paint shop called Low Brow Artique, which means we painted over someone else's art to put ours up. In turn our mural was painted over after just two days - unusually fast for that spot, but our image was also a pretty unusual style in a neighborhood totally covered in all kinds of graffiti. Next time, we're determined to find somewhere a little more permanent.

2016 is my second year participating in the RVA Street Art Festival, which is a local event run by some of the most active art proponents in the city: Ed Trask and Jon Baliles. This was the VIP lounge for the duration of the festival - I painted the front, and Sir James Thornhill painted the back.

This design is based on a little silk painting I did a while ago, crossed with a small piece I did for Light Grey Art Lab's show Botanica. The word "thrive" has really stuck with me, and I think it's a message I'm willing to repeat over and over. Words are often a natural addition to a lot of my design solutions, but I avoid them because I think they narrow the possible interpretations of an image. Sometimes, however, they amplify or focus the imagery in a totally positive way.

Cobalt Studios is a top-tier scenic painting studio in White Lake, NY. I was lucky enough to spend part of a summer there learning about scenic painting techniques with the inimitable Rachel Keebler and Kimb Williamson. As part of a much longer trip, I found some time to stop back by Cobalt and throw some paint around in the house where students live while enrolled. My friend Sarah Abernathy gave me a great excuse to come visit and a helpful hand in the actual painting.

This design is based on a little silk painting I did a while ago and fell in love with. The word "thrive" has really stuck with me, and I think it's a message I'm willing to repeat over and over. Words are often a natural addition to a lot of my design solutions, but I avoid them because I think they narrow the possible interpretations of an image. Sometimes, however, they amplify or focus the imagery in a totally positive way.

Sefton Coffee Co. is my new favorite coffee shop in Richmond because of their sweet and airy space, extensive menu (for a coffee shop), and friendly folk. I'm lucky enough that in addition to these nice qualities they also had a big blank wall that needed some painting.

I sketched a design which I thought would flow with the organic, soft, and simple feel of the place. It needed to be fairly large without feeling like it was screaming for attention, so I stuck with the very low contrast of white on green (the original wall color). As always I tried to incorporate the architecture and structural flow of the space, in this case by growing the tree up from the door frame and counter, spilling over the molding, and wrapping the words around to the next wall.

Starting in 2012, I initiated and organized the senior portfolio show for my graduating class at VCU's Communication Arts department. This epic, year-long undertaking gave me experience with event coordination, booking a space, volunteers, printing, hanging a show, liaison duties, and delegation, not to mention preparing work for a show and selling art.

The best part of this process was painting a mural for the show.

The mural design was key: the image would not only be a 13 foot tall announcement welcoming people to the show as they entered the gallery, it would also serve as the identity for the show, get printed on posters and postcards, and function online for social media and the department's website.

This design was inspired by the imagery of a potted plant - when you pull it out to re-pot it, its roots have likely spiraled and snared around each other, outgrowing their current container but with nowhere to go. For us, graduation was a time of release and exposure. All packed in cozily together as we were, it will take us a few stretches now to find our new shapes.

With several volunteers helping, I was also able to make a spotlit list of all the artists participating in the show, as well as hand-label each artist's spot with their name.

Mike is a Doctor of Osteopathy (J. Michael Herr, DO) who recently took over another doctor friend's practice. The practice came complete with his friend's well wishes, a lot of his mail, and his old office.

He redecorated the office with lots of beautiful artwork from Ten Thousand Villages, but the reception area still felt pretty bare. Interested in giving the space more personality, warmth, and life, he asked me to paint a mural that included some of the Ten Thousand Villages artwork.

We decided that Mike's hands themselves would be a strong symbolic centerpiece for the design, since a doctor of osteopathy commonly treats his patients by using his hands to manipulate their musculoskeletal systems. The accent walls bring color and warmth, and give the reception area definition.

The Carleys’ son Thomas is really really into firetrucks. He can identify more kinds of firehouse-related vehicles than I've even heard of. (Do you know the difference between a tanker truck and an engine? Thomas does.) He was already well on his way to having a firetruck themed room before I came along.

Halcyon Vintage is a vintage clothing shop established in 1983 by the lovely Connie Carroll. It's a staple of the Robinson St / Main St shopping area, and (I'm told by experts) a real hidden treasure for those interested in authentic vintage apparel.

For years the alley-side of the shop has been distinguished by a wooden sign by Billy Pickett, a veteran Richmond sign-painter. As with any wooden sign though, this one finally bit the dust earlier this year and Connie decided to replace it directly on the wall itself.

I worked with Connie to design a mural based off of the original design, which is an illustration of the myth of Alcyone. The new version has several subtle symbols representing Connie's two homes of Virginia and Maine: for example, the tree is a portrait of a specific tree on the James near Pony Pasture, and the rocks are based off of the Maine coastline.

This unconventional mural was a self-motivated school project-come-community service project. Hidden around the back wall of the museum are 13 different birds native to the Richmond area. A list shows the birds to find, and a quick fact about each one.

This project is dedicated to Lois Herr, stalwart bird-watcher, loving grandmother, and amazing lady.

Millwrights Restaurant in Simsbury, CT, offers a beautiful fine-dining experience in a mill house built in the year (you guessed it) 1680. Their upstairs dining room looks out over the mill's waterfall, and their cozy-but-classy bar called 1680 Tavern hides downstairs. To help guests find their way downstairs, they commissioned an americana-style mural to be painted in the stairwell.

This historical building has been elegantly renovated, but still bears much of the layout and wooden timbers from the original 334 year-old construction. For the maximum 'original' feel, I painted directly onto the wood of the stairwell. The raw, unprimed wood helped me achieve a muted, aged look.

In addition to the hand and stars pictured below, a scattering of stars are hidden around the downstairs bar area. If you tell the bartender the correct number of hidden stars, you may get a special "Shooting Star Shot"...!

Chesapeake Bank commissioned this mural to beautify the construction site for their first Richmond branch. Designed specifically for the site, the mural runs the full length of the block, capping the corners with detailed portraits of iconic local buildings and sights.

To create these portraits, I started by walking around to many local businesses in the Westhampton shopping area (Grove Ave, Libbie Rd, Patterson Ave) and asking people what they thought of as iconic to their community - which people, buildings, fixtures, events, and etc characterize the area? Many people were somewhat bemused - though they'd lived and worked in the area for a long time, they didn't see their surroundings as "iconic". Nevertheless I ended up with a long list of businesses that had been there for 20, 30, and 40 years, repeated imagery like the streetlights, and groups of people like joggers and shoppers. (Many subjects were mentioned over and over by those same bemused people - hopefully these images act as a mirror for them to see the lovely character of their neighborhood!)

More details below about different parts of the installation.