"Botero, Picasso and Matisse inspire me for different reasons. At the outset I thought realistic characterization through portraits or seascapes was what defined an artist. However, discovering Picasso and his abstract faces and forms rewrote the definition of what an artist is for me. The playfulness and outside-the-box thinking resonated with me as I developed my style. Fernando Botero, the Colombian sculptor and painter, has iconic figures with amplified volume and exaggerated lines. Botero’s embrace of exaggeration is intuitive and flaunts the rules of “normal” art. I can make my own rules and shapes that speak to me."