Visually through my work, over and over, I'm trying to create characters that are - to some people they may be monstrous, and I hate that word, because I think they're just unique. Misfits. I purposefully want to present something a little different so that whether people are disturbed by it or not, they can wrestle with it.

Visually through my work, over and over, I'm trying to create characters that are - to some people they may be monstrous, and I hate that word, because I think they're just unique. Misfits. I purposefully want to present something a little different so that whether people are disturbed by it or not, they can wrestle with it.

Sometimes I will portray the more normal-looking people as the monsters and then the more distorted - "uniquely formed" is the word I like to use, rather than monstrous - as the sympathetic characters in the painting. It's interesting because some people will get it right away, but a common reaction is to be a little off-put by it. And that is the whole idea. If it grabs somebody in a negative way, that's my intention.

I'm painting so much that I don't listen to much music. Because music is another creative outlet, it's a huge distraction for me when I paint.

I need to keep it spontaneous as an artist, so for me to repeat a face would be redundant and boring.