I am the elephant girl.

I have been drawing , painting, singing about elephants as long as I could remember.

From the second half of my Junior year I started to paint elephants.  I was completely inspired by a field trip I took for my animal drawing class during the fall of 2005 to the Los Angeles Zoo.  One day we went to the elephant pen.

To my surprise and horror there was an elephant bobbing his head up and down for hours.  Turns out he has been suffering from Neurosis a condition known for animals held in captivity.  This inspired me so much that I started to paint elephants.  The elephant who lives at the LA Zoo is Billy and he needs to find a home. 

Donations:

I have created buttons of my paintings in hopes of raising awareness about him and elephants in captivity and to raise money from the proceeds of the buttons to support In Defense of Animals and Last Chance for Animals.

Why do I love elephants so much???

Well, as a new born I was placed in an incubator because I contracted a deadly flu like virus that almost killed me.  The doctor told my family that I was not going to make it through the evening of the day I was born. My grandmother rushed to a nearby church and bought me my very first doll of an elephant and placed it beside me in the incubator because she thought I needed a friend ( I still have this elephant). Since then elephants have a personal meaning to me of strength and courage and I decided I wanted to pay homage to elephants for as long as I live because I feel that the elephant doll helped me live.

About my work:

If one word could describe my work it would be the word Kabuki.  Kabuki is a Japanese theater drama which use stylized movements, dances, and songs in order to enact tragedies and comedies.  My work has a lot to do with Kabuki because the word when broken down means:
 
Ka= sing, emote
Bu= theater, dance, performance, inform 
Ki= art, artist, skill
 
I have been influenced by my mother who is an artist, educator, actress, singer-songwriter, producer, director of bilingual educational multi-media products. She taught me that there is no word as "can't" in the vocabulary and always reminded me to never give up.  I am a proud daughter of a strong, courageous, loving and caring mom who taught me the heart of an artist which is to see beyond what others see. 
 
Going to an art school helped me understand who I am as an artist and I hope that I can walk in my mother's footsteps while still wearing my own shoes in the future.