I’m an artist from Marietta, Georgia, born and raised, who has spent the last couple of years navigating the art culture of Jacksonville Florida. Painting, sculpture, murals, mixed media, assemblage, upcycling—I’ve never been very interested in staying in one lane for too long. For me, being an artist has always felt less like choosing a style and more like following a trail. One idea leads to another, a discarded object becomes a material, a sketch becomes a sculpture, and a random find can turn into an entirely new direction. I call these discoveries First Findings—the things I stumble across, pick up, experiment with, and eventually turn into something of my own.

 

Smooth Gator Workshop is a space for that process to happen. It’s part studio, part playground, part laboratory, and part collection of side quests. I’m interested in what happens when skill and curiosity get to exist in the same room—when I can be intentional about my craft while still giving myself permission to play. I move between bold painting, rough textures, found materials, recycled objects, mural culture, woodworking, character-making, writing, journaling, and whatever else catches my attention. Rather than forcing all of these practices into one neat category, I’m learning how they can speak to each other and shape a multidisciplinary identity that feels authentically mine.

 

At the center of it all is a desire to keep discovering—not just new materials or techniques, but more of who I am. My faith in Christ is part of that journey, reminding me that creativity is both a gift and a responsibility, reflecting the one who created all things, and that there is meaning in the process as much as the finished piece. I’m still experimenting. Still collecting. Still building. Still taking the occasional side quest. And honestly, that’s the part I enjoy most. Smooth Gator Workshop is a record of that journey: a place where found things become new things, experiments become artwork, and the process of becoming an artist is part of the art itself.