In her own words:

I am thrilled/excited/nervous to share my art with the world. Those who are close to me have been encouraging me to share my art for sometime now. Although I have always been a creative type in how I present my work, beauty and home, my first formal art class was in college at New Mexico Tech where I signed up for a pastel class on a whim. I found that the medium felt very natural to me, and when I painted I was present and content. I began painting with acrylics two years ago, and am self taught in this technique.

I get excitement with my painting process, because up until the very end, my art usually looks quite messy and abstract. It is when the finishing touches are made, the last highlights, the final blends, that my work comes together and I can consider it complete.

My inspiration comes from living things. I love biology in general- plants, insects, the animals around me. When I look at an image, I zoom in and out, I think of the colors and shapes that are formed, but I also think of the protein and molecules and genetic codes that allow the colors and shapes to exist.

Images that I use as references are usually imperfect and asymmetric. I find beauty in imperfect subjects; for example in “Baby Jax”, his tail is swept behind him. Some have looked at this painting and wondered, what horse is missing a tail? But I know he isn’t. I know that he was happy and moving it. The same holds true with “Capricio", from straight on it may seem like a symmetrical face, but he has a unique notch in his ear and his gray hairs favor one side of his face. These small details are important to me and are what I choose to highlight in my work. Most of all, my reference images need to make me smile when I look at them!

I hope that my work can bring a bit of whimsy and light-heartedness to your day!
-Olivia

Olivia also holds a B.S. and M.S. in Biology from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, as well as a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Boston University School of Medicine. She currently resides in Santa Fe, NM with her husband, and their motley crue of a dog, snake and gecko.