At Virginia Tech, I learned how to paint and draw from life. This is an acrylic painting I did of Oakland, CA, during the pandemic. The painting for me was about the battle between natural, unconscious brush strokes, that you might see in the background and far trees, versus the processed, over conceptualized strokes of the nearer bushes and leaves. Finding a balance was the only way to make it work. For me, the painting is about unconscious vs conscious. Background vs foreground. Nature vs society. Simplicity vs detail. The buildings represent people in my life, like my mother, father, brother, sister, and friends, that make up my psyche.