About

Hello, I’m M!

I am a pet portrait painter from the golden foothills of El Dorado Hills, CA. My family is full of artists and I explored with drawing, watercolor and digital painting from a young age. After enjoying several high school programs at Academy of Art University in San Francisco, I went on to self-study portraiture through digital paintings while recovering from a chronic illness. For the past three years, I have painted custom pet portraits for clients, friends, and family, which has guided me to my current subject matter of surreal, contemplative portraits of cats. My work is marked by cats with strange markings, out-of-scale botanicals, and rich color.

This year marks my first participation in a gallery exhibition, where my “Zoom” series joined fellow students of Jim Marxen at the Community Gallery at 48 Natoma in Folsom, CA. I am currently a member of the El Dorado Hills Art Association, Folsom Art Association, and a student of Jim Marxen’s “Expand Your Creative Skills” acrylic painting class.

Artists’ Statement

Inside our relationships with our pets is a fundamental mystery: what is the nature of their inner worlds?

Their lives are odd ones, designed by us, far removed from their ancestors who lived in the wild. Suburban gardens are odder still, made of paved-over earth, water flowing through tubes, and plants plucked from their natural environment and arranged in living collections. This is where many of our pets, themselves honed by people over thousands of years, lounge and prowl. By approaching their perspectives with joyful curiosity, my current series of paintings dances with the question of our pets’ inner experiences and our role in them.

Raised in the suburbs of El Dorado Hills, my life was disrupted suddenly by chronic illness in my early 20’s. The world became as small as my parents’ home and lovely garden; my primary companion became my cat, Sagwa. While I couldn’t explore outward into the world during that time, I could explore inward and through art, unpeel layers from my daily life until the mundane became magical.

Original paintings and prints from my portfolio are available for purchase. See options for custom pet portraits here. For other inquiries, please reach out via email for a consultation. Thanks for your visit!