Artist Profile

I am a mostly self-taught artist, who has studied painting at community workshops taught by various Los Angeles based artists. My work has been influenced by the work of Chicano/artists whom I have been fortunate to have had as teachers, mentors, and friends. I am also inspired by the impressionism movement, particularly its use of color and the movement of paint on canvas. I aim to show emotion and feeling in my visual work. My philosophy of creating art is to paint what I see. I prefer nature in motion, changes in the environment, a moment in time, a moment in my life. I manipulate oil, acrylic paints, and sometimes watercolors to capture the brilliant colors found in everyday life around me. My work is mostly landscapes from around California and the U.S. I love to paint the images, lights, and colors around the city. I also draw inspiration from nature found in the city and the majesty of the outdoors. I love the changes in weather, an upcoming rainy day, or the aftermath of a storm. The light changing at sunrise with the promise of a new day, and also at sunset, giving way to the darkness and the dancing lights at night. I also paint portraits of the wonderful people living in Los Angeles, such as my friends, neighbors, family, and other artists. I aim to capture glimpses of beauty and light found in my daily life, such as a flower in someone’s garden, the news of the day, world events, or just a simple hidden gem found by chance on a walk around the neighborhood.

I was born in El Salvador and because of the civil war at the time, my family had to flee to the U.S. I’ve been living in Los Angeles, CA since I was ten years old. These events shaped my childhood, change always being around whether I liked it or not. But art was something that was mine, something I could always control. I started drawing or sketching on my own wherever I went. It was something I could always take with me, sometimes the only thing that was my own creation. I created work on my own or at school with whatever I had available at the time. I still remember all the bright colors of my childhood tropical climate close to the equator – the vivid greens, the bright flowers, the dark nights sprinkled with stars. I remember the places and the people that continue to exist only in my memory. I paint the things that remind me of them, and I paint from my past, my present at this moment, and my hope for the future.

As I became an adult I continued to paint on and off experimenting with different mediums. I love to learn from others and discover my own way of interpreting what I see through my work. I enjoy experimenting and playing with paint, and in the process creating something new. Often, I embark on this journey not knowing the destination, but this is part of the process, part of the fun. Now that I have a family of my own, I need to be creative to find both the time to create and the time to share with two creative minds. My two boys inspire me to keep going. I love their imagination and their creativity that has no limits. They give me hope, make me laugh, and help me to keep dreaming.

I’ve exhibited my work in galleries and cultural centers in Southern California, such as Self-Help Graphics, Plaza de la Raza, Avenue 50 Studio, ChimMaya Art Gallery, and The Neutra. My work exhibited at The Muckenthaler Cultural Center was published in the Fullerton Observer. I was also a featured artist in Juaquin Magazine from New Mexico.