When developing my style for my work, I have always been drawn to using Surrealism mixed with Pre-Raphaelite and Elizabethan motifs. My main influences for wanting to explore my imagination and my love for animals, both real and mythical, was from children's book illustrations. Some of the illustrators and books that influenced my desire to create outlandishly elegant creatures were from the storytelling and eye-catching collages of mythical creatures from Eric Carle, the thrilling descriptions of the mythical creatures of folklore from Jorge Luis Borges’ The Book of Imaginary Beings, Charles Santore’s illustrations of expressionistic animals in Aesop’s Fables, and the creatively detailed illustrations of beings and world-building from Tony DiTerlizzi’s Spiderwick and the Wondla series encouraged me to explore constructing characters, creatures, their personalities, and the world they would reside in.

I’m fascinated by this world of mythical creatures, which I call Cepbezia. The creatures in this series are portrayed in moments when they are enjoying their free time. My style is influenced by watercolorist Walton Ford and John James Audubon’s illustrations of wildlife. With this series, I want to create a world that is appetizing to the child’s curiosity, where I want my paintings to be seen in children’s books. Using both the essence of illustration and painting combined, I see it being displayed in both galleries and published in children’s books. This series can develop into a children’s book of its own, encouraging kids to explore their imagination by looking into a foreign world with all these types of fantastically bizarre creatures.