What started as an exploration into abstraction has evolved into complex, non-linear narratives that are constructed from a series of metaphors, symbols, and personal icons. Through the use of various shelter structures, the work explores ideas of protection, confinement, and an investigation into how we construct our personal space. The paintings reinterpret events in my personal life in a way that allows the viewer to create their own story based on the connection and slippage between these systems. As a painter, I strongly believe that personal narratives have the ability to communicate to the viewer on a deeper level, as the work begins to break through everyday generalizations and tap into a greater universal truth. All of the images and abstract forms in the paintings are grounded in research and are used as a tool to construct these narratives. Symbols are inter-twined and woven within the paintings surface, often to be covered up, moved, and later exposed. This physical application of paint then becomes a compulsive means of recording and documenting the passage of time, allowing the viewer to experience the history of the work. The dialogue that is created within the paintings is as important as the finished product. I consider the work to be a contemporary extension of the rich tradition of narrative painting..