Month: March 2026

Oil on  panel, 2026.

A young girl, dressed in a nun’s habit, stands alone in the desert, and night is falling. The last golden rays of sunlight linger on her cheek. Nopal cactus surrounds her, framing her black robes; the full moon rises behind her head. Two bats swoop low toward her. The Little Nun is a painting about fear, but it’s not without hope. A child is ripped from home, abandoned to the wilderness, and darkness begins to creep in – what will happen to her? Two figures we associate with darkness and death are nearby – the bats – but this negative association is a cultural misunderstanding. San Antonio is home to the largest bat colony in the world, the Bracken Cave Preserve, and these creatures are important pollinators, as well as helping to control harmful bugs that damage crops and gardens. Additionally, though the sun has set, the moon is full, and its light is luminous enough to make one’s way. Though the little nun seems alone, there is help nearby from unexpected places, if she can learn the wisdom of the night.

Oil on panel, 2026.

A woman stands before a deep blue sky, directly facing the viewer. A brown bat swoops in front of her, its thin, leathery wing obscuring one of the woman’s eyes. She raises a gloved hand and peeking out beneath her glove is the gleaming tail of a dark scorpion, her skin raw and fiery beneath it. The sleeves of her dress evoke the body of an animal – covered in black and white fur and set with seven green and expressive cat’s eyes. In her other hand, she holds a Mahl stick. In the background, orange-leaved mesquite trees stretch their sloping and chaotic branches earthward, under the tiny winking eye of the waxing moon.

This painting arose from grief of the loss of my companion animal of 14 years, my cat Violet. As I looked ahead toward a life without her, all I knew for certain that would remain with me was the act of painting, so I hold my Mahl stick like a scepter. One of my north star painters is Leonor Fini, whose Self-Portrait with Scorpion is referenced here; the scorpion’s tail is the sting of grief. Violet’s eyes have embedded themselves into my sleeves, outfitting the arms with which I paint; before her death she would sit on my lap as I painted, watching the paintings unfold. Bats are one of the main motifs in my paintings, and for me, they are guardians, messengers, protectors, helpers, and psychopomps. In this painting, this bat is nearby as the subject integrates the pain of grief to begin making something new.

What the Moon has Witnessed. Oil on panel, completed 2026.