I’ve always felt that beauty can help us slow down.

Life often pushes us to move quickly, but painting gives us a chance to pause. It lets us notice the light on a leaf, the stillness of an owl, or the feeling a landscape leaves with us long after we leave. Through my work, I invite you to look more closely and find the wonder that’s around us every day.

I was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in a family with both Saudi and Filipino roots. Living between cultures showed me how people find beauty in nature, tradition, and memory. These experiences still influence every painting I make.

I started my journey as an artist in college, where I discovered painting and quickly fell in love with observing the world. The dreamlike worlds of Henri Rousseau, especially his lush jungles, reminded me of family trips to the Philippines and inspired me deeply. Over time, I developed my own style, blending the deserts of Saudi Arabia with the tropical forests, birds, and wildlife of the Philippines. Instead of painting places exactly as they are, I paint them as I remember them, shaped by emotion, imagination, and time.

I work primarily in oil on linen, exploring the relationship between memory, nature, and place. Birds, forests, and imagined landscapes appear throughout my paintings as symbols of curiosity, resilience, and our connection to the natural world. Each painting begins with careful observation and gradually evolves into a place where memory, imagination, and reality come together.

After finishing my degree at New York University, I started a new chapter at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where I study learning, creativity, and human development. These studies shape how I think about observation and education, but painting itself is still my greatest teacher. Every day in the studio reminds me that learning to see is something I’ll always be working on.

Whether I’m painting, writing, hiking, or training for endurance events, I keep coming back to the same idea: the world shows us more when we slow down and pay attention. This belief guides both my life and my art.

Thank you for visiting my studio. These paintings inspire you to pause, look a little longer, and find something meaningful for yourself.