I created this acrylic painting to explore the topic of 'Diversity'. The main focal point of this piece symbolizes different cultures coming together, conversing, and spreading their influence all over the world. The two global hemispheres have an 'open mind' to avoid stereotypes, prejudice, and hate. At the bottom, multi-colored strands are woven together, which represents diverse backgrounds and ethnicities working together to support the world.

In the beginning of life we are fresh like flowers and excited to grow. Eventually we form individual identities (the skull). The chin then symbolizes the sunny glory days we experience after gaining freedom from the bed of flowers. Our prime gradually fades into mid-life (the teeth) which bridges youth and age. Next, the stars demonstrate old age and the vast amounts of memories one accumulates over a lifetime as they look back and reminisce (falling petals).

We all have dreams, aspirations, and goals in life. Sometimes it is only a matter of being able to realize those dreams and 'catch' them in order to make them happen. We may have to move mountains to achieve our goals, whatever they may be, but these obstacles cannot intimidate people to at least try their best. With a little perseverance it is possible to finally make those hopes a reality, which is represented by the sun in the center of the mountains and dream catcher.

Society creates a mold for citizens to fit into: go to school, get a job, buy a house with a white picket fence, raise a family with 2.5 kids, make money, retire. All of these things are obviously nice, but we don't always have to conform to these standards to have a good prosperous life. Sometimes going along with societal expectations just gets us lost in the crowd because we loose our sense of self while trying to fit in. Its nice to break up the monotony once in a while.

This painting is less serious than some of the others as it tries to capture the whimsical essence being a teenager. Thinking about warm summer nights laying in the cool grass with the fireflies having nothing better to do than just stare up at the stars and day dream about crushes and sing songs with our best friends are all so simple, but they stand for the fun and carefree time in life. I feel like sometimes as we grow up, we forget these little things that make us so happy.

The 'highest point' of this project demonstrates the euphoric colorful feeling one experiences when acting on their addiction, which don't necessarily have to deal with drugs. Then moving to the middle, the chains in the pupil are strapping the person to his or her habits, sometimes stripping them from their true self and leaving them with nothing, like bare bones. The 'low point' at the bottom symbolizes the consequences of bad addictions, like loss of relationships, tears, and a shorter life.

This painting is all about falling in and out of love, and it can be looked at in two ways. The bottom heart is thriving and is pumping the life back into the dark and cold heart at the top, hence falling in love. On the other hand, the top heart can also be sucking the life out of the healthy heart standing for the hurt sometimes associated with emotion. Since they are both connected, it creates a vicious yet thrilling cycle of relationships and interpersonal connections.

This colored pencil drawing represents how I feel about life after college: overwhelmed about the complexity and toughness of the real world. Although we might seem naive and unprepared when being exposed to new experiences, like babies, we always mature and find our way sooner or later. It is just a matter or learning as we go and adapting to new settings to find our niche in the world.

This is my sister Julie's pit bull Jelly Bean and she is one of the most loving puppies I have ever met. Pitt bulls have a bad reputation and people are often afraid that they might attack. However, it is unfair to correlate this dog breed with negative connotations and jump to conclusions about how they behave. Similarly, it is also unfair to do the same thing with other people. This painting communicates the importance of being open minded and avoiding jumping to conclusions about each other.

Smoking cigarettes is a popular vice, however it has extremely detrimental effects on the individual and others who have to breathe in second hand smoke. Even though the smoke seems harmless, almost graceful, and suave, the carcinogens contained inside are deadly and this charcoal drawing tries to emphasize that point.