This house was as old as me and though it had a strong foundation and good structure it needed work. The previous owner was a good man, he was a police officer, he had a child he raised here, he had a life here that involved addition. He had converted the single car garage into a den and added a large section onto the back of the home. He had a couple of palm trees nicely planted and seems to have loved the color salmon. He seemed to have the best intentions for building strong and durable. it was his story.
Sometimes when I create I like to start with a doodle. It’s the spark of inspiration.
While building my first home I had no limitations, which left me spinning in a space sometimes, before I was able to ground the ideas. I remember walking around the land building ideas with rocks and imagining all the possible futures of what could be there. What would be there.
The way I have approached art is by letting each piece represent me in that moment in time. My thoughts and the way I try to express them. Building these homes involve so much more than than just building or rebuilding to me. For 19 years I have been building a home by living in the space and spending time working on it. I enjoy the exercise of working. It is something my grandparents really emphasized. Keep working everyday and you’ll live a longer and happier life. When I was younger building from the ground up was a reflection of where I was a person then.I think the Palmetto Bay house, as a transformation, greatly describes who I am right now. Each home I have built or rebuilt has had its own perfectly framed, act of life. It is easy to see where the story derives. The choice of moving from one place to another is always at these great moments of loss and gain. It is always a time of renewal and change. The story of that change I experience is what I use to create the small space around me that we call home. When I left the Redland ranch that stage of my life was over. I had spent 8 years designing and building that home and then my world changed and I welcomed my child. A child I had thought about the whole time i was creating that space. Read more here
