I find it comical to use the language du jour to describe the mind, reality and anything else - simply because that’s what society always does - but I cannot help being a part of this present moment. A moment where technology of a specific kind is king/queen/the non-binary ruler. So I’ll just say it…

Dots are like data. When you use a lot of digital art to create, you can’t escape from the fact that your canvas is made up of pixels. It’s the same whether you create with non-digital tools, I just mean it’s easier to see. Because the way you manipulate every pixel or ‘dot’ has a drastic impact on the totality of the image you create.

So, dots are powerful. And even our vision is made of dots. In fact, our reality is composed of dots. Quantum-size particles perhaps, but still, dots nonetheless.

These dots, when thought through, connect you to me. We’re just a string of dots away from each other. And, in fact, if we consider ourselves a bunch of dots, well then we’re just existing a big cosmic soup of dots.

Breaking things down into dots has been helpful for me to be able to create. Manipulating the dots themselves and finding spaces between them allows me to construct images - but more importantly, to build impressions of feelings.

I enjoy the dots because somehow they have a kind of innate accessibility about them. A dot isn’t hard to draw, but a feeling is hard to convey. And sometimes, realism doesn’t quite cut it for me. If I wanted to take a picture of something, I would. Breaking down a scene and rebuilding an impression of it with dots excites me.

Let’s be honest, part of it is that I don’t have the patience to make things as realistic as possible! I’m just not ‘skilled’ enough. But I find that my dots are my own skill exemplified. Taking something complex and pulling out its essence. My dots are at the heart of how I create and, as fun as they might look, I take each and every one of them quite seriously! If they don’t do what I want them to do, I must find a way to build on them, around them, or simply re-do them. Because when you are offering the viewer less realism, less texture, less complexity - well, there’s simply no room to hide. Every dot (or lack thereof) counts!

And I think that speaks to something more…

If we’re going to see the world at all, why not make sure its pixels are filled with beauty and meaning, instead of a dry, white, empty wall? Perhaps you should fill it with one of my pieces. Just sayingggg!! :P