In the spring of 2008, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Immediately I was on a rollercoaster ride of terrifying proportions: doctors, surgeries, unknown future. This was the turning point for me in my paintings. Up to this time, my work had been somewhat melancholy and brooding, the colors dark and somber. I had been investigating the darker, seamier side of human nature, in particular our fascination with catastrophe and the macabre, our spectatorship of the darker side of life.

All of a sudden the tables were turned. My real life became the cataclysmic event and I found myself hungrily seeking out up-lifting and nurturing imagery and subject matter as a personal survival mechanism. Now, as a cancer survivor, my paintings had become my visual therapy.

My first investigation into this new found territory led me to create a series entitled “Larger Than Life.” In this series of oil paintings on canvas, I portrayed the stunning beauty of the ultimate comfort foods, candy and sticky sweets by enlarging the scale to massive proportions.