I am a self-taught artist working in painting, drawing, and photography. I began painting after seeing a book of Lucian Freud’s work, and later discovered Tai-Shan Schierenberg, Euan Euglow, and Joseph Zbukvic. My drawings and paintings portray contemporary subjects with a traditional yet loose treatment. I also create abstracts inspired by old walls, graffiti, and layers of torn posters and broadsides. I admire Richard Diebenkorn and New Orleans painter Paula Landrum. Among photographers, I’m drawn to early colorists—especially Saul Leiter for the layered complexity of his images, and William Eggleston for his matter-of-fact glimpses of Southern life that, taken together, convey what it feels like to live in the American South.